Re:Ethiopian Binary Math
by skunkworks on Saturday October 05, 2013 @10:13PM
(#6502807)
You're taking a cute fictional story and running wild with it to somehow fit your weird anti-PC agenda. No one here, including the original article's author, is claiming that this is evidence of cultural equality. Way to waste your energy.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
The article:
> So how do we and that Ethiopian shaman differ? Very little, I reckon. > Very little indeed. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes fewer mistakes than we do.
The article clearly dumbs down (or misunderstands)the algortihm, insulting the audience's intelligence to make a feel-good claim about the arithmetic talent of "uncivilized" Ethiopians, and is accidentally racist in the process.
Re:Ethiopian Binary Math
by fnordfnordfnord on Sunday October 06, 2013 @10:48AM
(#6504221)
Give Lienhard a break. IIRC He's a mechanical engineer; so, prior to learning of Ethiopian Multiplication, he probably used hammers to count with.