What we call things matters, and on a more fundamental level
than you might realize. I came across the following Numberphile
video through NPR’s Robert Krulwich (H/T Andrew Sullivan). While
I vaguely recall references to a larger value for a billion when
I was really small, I share Krulwich’s slight amazement at how
prevalent the long system of numbers is outside of the U.S.
(Canadian readers, especially those in Quebec, feel free to
snicker politely to yourselves.) In brief, the differences
between countries over measures are of a kind with the
differences over numbers. (While the video doesn’t address this,
the differences apply to the really small numbers as well as the
really large.) Putting aside the cultural subtext (of which the
perceived decline of the U.K. is but one part), there are
competing models of logic involved here. Or, if you’re not
math(s) centered, competing models of aesthetics. The video
describes the perspective from the long system as to why the
short system is ‘illogical’ and one coul