Numbers...

I was just watching a documentary - I think it was called "The History of One" or something close to it. It was narrated by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame - I love documentaries he hosts. An interesting fact was that the development of numbers as abstract concepts is comparatively recent - i.e. only since the time of the Egyptians. Before them there was never really much use for numbers. It wasn't until the Egyptians felt the need to create monuments that some way of calculating was needed. In essence the number "1" is a unit measure against which everything else is based - it's the "ruler" against which all measurements are made. The term "ruler" to refer to a king was derived from the number "1". Apparently there are Australian Aboriginies that grew up without numbers and have no concept of numbers and can't think in those terms. It makes you wonder how much of what seems natural to us now has been so ingrained over time so as to be indistinguishable from an inherent constant. The program also talked about the develpoment of the concept of whole numbers and their relation to beauty and the universe. Heady stuff.