What if our hands had 6 fingers

Titled after an article I read:
msnbc.msn.com...
snippets:

By far the biggest impact would be on math — and a different number system could have surprisingly profound consequences.

Base-10 feels natural, but that's just because we're accustomed to it. If we had six fingers on each hand, Tabin said we would surely have adopted a base-12 system, where the numbers would progress as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, x, y, 10. "We would think of base-12 as the easiest and most natural system and would find base-10 as inconceivable as base-14," he said.

Extra fingers frequently pop up as birth defects; it's called polydactyly, and it's a simple genetic error. But natural selection has not gripped onto those extra fingers and made them permanent. Why not? Tabin argues it's because a duplicate finger contributes nothing new and so doesn't confer any worthwhile evolutionary advantage. If we did develop a true sixth finger, it would probably grow up out of our wrist bones as an extra quasi-thumb.

Very interesting article. In what other ways might it impact us?

Then I'd be able to eat my Hoola-Hoops quicker i.e. by wearing them as rings and then gobbling them!

Some species, like cats, have a higher predisposition toward Polydactylism or phenotypical expression of super-numery digits.

In humans, this expression is commonly seen in groups that exercise very limited gene pool selection resulting mostly in several degrees of incest.

Thus, where there's close inbreeding between brothers and sisters, parents and children, or even first cousins, aunts/uncles with nieces/nephews, there's a higher rate of this expression.
Find someone with 6 or more digits on each hand, and the chances are close to 100% they're the product of close familial inbreeding.

The two different expressions are Postaxial and Preaxial, where Postaxial would equate to an extra little finger, and Preaxial is usually expressed as a second thumb.

In some cases examined, expression of super-numery digits will present with 7, 8, and even 10 fingers on each hand, but rarely symmetrical where one hand may express more or less phalangial and carpal metacarpal development than the other.

From a speculative standpoint regarding development and use of base 10 in math, it would indeed be interesting were there cultures that developed in parallel that used base 8, or base 12 depending on less or more digital expression.

I had a extra partial finger grow on my pinkie when I was born. My mother didn't like it, they cut it off and now it's a stumpie.

reply to post by PurpleChiten


The biggest impact I can think of is that we wouldn't have a middle finger, and I wouldn't be able to flip you the bird nearly as effectively.

There was one of those funny fake commercials on Saturday Night Live years back. Tried to find it on Youtube, but no luck.

It started out: "Do you have this problem-EXTRA FINGERS!" and then showed a hand with about eight of them. It then promoted a product called "Melt Away" I think, that you apply to your pesky extra fingers, and voila, they disappear!

The idea of the number system impacted me the most. We all think of base 10 as being the most logical choice but sometimes don't think of "why". Ten fingers makes sense as to why it was chosen that way. It underlies our entire societial progression. From basic counting up to the metric system and our algebraic concepts, base 10 has laid our foundation.
The Mayans used a base-20 system and the Babylonians used base-60. We're all somewhat familiar with binary, base-2 that was used as the foundation for computer algorithms as well as hexadecimal (or at least have heard of them).
I was just really taken aback that our number system is essentially based on something as intrapersonally "human" as the number of fingers on our hands. Pretty cool.

id be able to count to 12.

Originally posted by faryjay
Then I'd be able to eat my Hoola-Hoops quicker

i.e. by wearing them as rings and then gobbling them!

edit on 17/5/12 by faryjay because: (no reason given)

The first thing I thought of were the hula-hoops from the 60's, that people gyrated around their midsection
Is it some type of cereal snack or candy? I guess you could eat them more quickly if you had more fingers to put them on!

Originally posted by Druscilla
Some species, like cats, have a higher predisposition toward Polydactylism or phenotypical expression of super-numery digits.

In humans, this expression is commonly seen in groups that exercise very limited gene pool selection resulting mostly in several degrees of incest.

Thus, where there's close inbreeding between brothers and sisters, parents and children, or even first cousins, aunts/uncles with nieces/nephews, there's a higher rate of this expression.
Find someone with 6 or more digits on each hand, and the chances are close to 100% they're the product of close familial inbreeding.

The two different expressions are Postaxial and Preaxial, where Postaxial would equate to an extra little finger, and Preaxial is usually expressed as a second thumb.

In some cases examined, expression of super-numery digits will present with 7, 8, and even 10 fingers on each hand, but rarely symmetrical where one hand may express more or less phalangial and carpal metacarpal development than the other.

From a speculative standpoint regarding development and use of base 10 in math, it would indeed be interesting were there cultures that developed in parallel that used base 8, or base 12 depending on less or more digital expression.

edit on 17-5-2012 by Druscilla because: (no reason given)

edit on 17-5-2012 by Druscilla because: (no reason given)

Interesting, I didn't realize there were so many different cases depending on species!

Originally posted by Shrukin89
I had a extra partial finger grow on my pinkie when I was born. My mother didn't like it, they cut it off and now it's a stumpie.

I wonder how it may have impacted your life if it had been left there? Maybe you could have made it a great positive and shown uniqueness culminating in fame and fortune

Originally posted by IntegratedInstigator
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

The biggest impact I can think of is that we wouldn't have a middle finger, and I wouldn't be able to flip you the bird nearly as effectively.

Being a PurpleChiten, I flip the bird every time I turn over!

Originally posted by godspetrat
There was one of those funny fake commercials on Saturday Night Live years back. Tried to find it on Youtube, but no luck.

It started out: "Do you have this problem-EXTRA FINGERS!" and then showed a hand with about eight of them. It then promoted a product called "Melt Away" I think, that you apply to your pesky extra fingers, and voila, they disappear!

LOL gotta love SNL!

Originally posted by lacrimosa
id be able to count to 12.

Horizons would be expanded!! LOL

We'd need bigger pockets, gloves would be more expensive and Playstation games would be really tricky as there'd be more buttons on the controller.

reply to post by PurpleChiten


we'd be the descendants of the Nephilim

"In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants."~1 Chronicles 20:6

Originally posted by FaceLikeTheSun
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

we'd be the descendants of the Nephilim

"In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants."~1 Chronicles 20:6

Thanks! That's even a little bit "creepy" when you think about it! It would have implications on hundreds of threads on this forum!

I bet gloves would be really hard to find and fetch a hefty price. I wouldn't mind having a six finger income either.

Originally posted by Insomniac
We'd need bigger pockets, gloves would be more expensive and Playstation games would be really tricky as there'd be more buttons on the controller.

Would definitely need more buttons on the controller!

And we would have to add a new line to
This little piggy went to market