(June 7, 2012 at 3:36 am)Stimbo Wrote: Haven't read the piece, I'm just going by what's been quoted here, but mightn't those Pirahã just have been taking the piss out of Everett and his belief in unseen spooks? Sort of how we do using the FSM and Ceiling Cat. Perhaps not, really, but I'd like to think that's what was going on.
Read it. It's rather short and easy to read. Isn't wikipedia nice?
I don't think they're lampooning Everett. It is possible that they've experienced loud thunder, ascribed a term to it, and thus believe in it because "it is an experience".
They love to ask for hand outs and watch people waste their time trying to teach them, from making a boat to learning counting. They don't learn because "it isn't their culture".
Slave to the Patriarchy no more
