Rob Seaman scripsit: > Decimal and sexagesimal notation persist because over centuries and > millennia lay people have demonstrated the ability to reach a minimal > level of competency. Which is to say that, for whatever reason, they > are better tailored to our purposes.
That's vulgar Darwinism. Base 10, like English spelling and the QWERTY keyboard, are good enough, and may even constitute a local minimum. But it's absurd to suppose that they are necessarily a global minimum. Do you suppose that the reason that francophones go on speaking French is because in some sense French is better suited to those particular people than English, or Dogon, or Mandarin Chinese? Hardly. They continue to speak French because children continue to acquire French from their francophone parents and peers. -- "But I am the real Strider, fortunately," John Cowan he said, looking down at them with his face [EMAIL PROTECTED] softened by a sudden smile. "I am Aragorn son http://www.ccil.org/~cowan of Arathorn, and if by life or death I can save you, I will." --LotR Book I Chapter 10 _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list LEAPSECS@leapsecond.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
