Travel Thursday: Alien Number Systems

Reading science fiction and fantasy I am increasing confounded by the anthropomorphic problem. I think I was first made aware of this issue in the novel Sphere by Michael Crichton. Basically the gist of it is that we have certain underlying assumptions that are deeply tied into our biology, linguistics, and culture, that we are not really aware of, and when trying to conceive of alien organisms we tend to heavily anthropomorphize them in ways that do not really make sense for how those creatures might have evolved. 

Even our own cultures on earth are extremely diverse in their thinking, underlying assumptions, and cultural proclivities. To this end, the cultures and species of our fictional worlds should be at least as diverse, if not even more so.

We tend to imagine languages as being weird and different with different cultures that are informed by them. Lets look at a central underlying assumption we tend to make about our societies: the universality of numbers. Here is a video from Numberphile that breaks apart some of those underlying assumptions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4bmZ1gRqCc&feature=emb_logo 

What is especially interesting about these sorts of number systems is the evident practicallity of them in everyday trade. Yes, our fingers make a great start to a counting system (one that won't be shared by any species without 10 fingers) but even those are built upon to allow the trading of larger amounts as the society needs them. Changing the numbering system of a fantasy society just to give a sense of the exotic is probably not the best idea, but there can be interesting ways to change it that allow that sense of a different people while still allowing the players fun in interacting with that system.

What are some ways that a fictional society could change how they use numbers in interesting ways for the players to interact with?

If you found this interesting you can find similar stuff at my blog here each day and can support me by checking out my OSR ruleslite gonzo system here: https://skyorrichegg.itch.io/a-crucible-for-silver

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