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Only one gene affects whether you have 10 or 12 fingers and thumbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRjmRNsPl1M

If we can convince everyone to have 12 fingers, maybe we can convince them to switch to dozenal.




It depends on how you use your fingers to count. Most of us are taught to raise one finger, then raise another … one-by-one until they are all raised in order to count to ten. We can also use our digits as digits and then each finger can be one bit: closed is zero and open is one.

This scheme allows for binary counting and even generalizes for people with different numbers of fingers. Lose a finger? You can still count to 511. Gain two fingers through genetic manipulation? Now you can count to 4095!

Maybe the binary coded decimal fans can reduce their counting space and count to 99 with two extra bits left over for holding their pencil!

Base 12 or maybe “base 10” where 10 - 1 = B could more efficiently be encoded in the same way so that one can still count to BB and have two bits left over!

The world is chock full of possibility. In the meantime, we have really cheap calculators available so we can divide 7 by 3 and not have to cut one of our fingers partially off to express the result.


I challenge you to represent the number "9" in binary on your right hand, with your palm facing you.




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