And a side of anthropology, please.

I first heard about the Incas' complex string systems- known as khipu- in Jared Diamond's phenomenal book Guns, Germs and Steel, and it was recently mentioned on the BBC. It seems that the Incas were the only ancient people group to develop an advanced society without a written language.

Their knots and strings system was long known to be used as a type of accounting, but now researchers are realizing that it is far more important. Certain patterns of knots have been shown to actually represent the names of cities. This development unlocks the potential for the extensiveness of the Incan khipu, and it provides new hope for learning about the long-vanished civilization.

What I find fascinating is that it was a three-dimensional system for language. Khipu "readers" used their eyes and hands to decipher meaning. What equivalent do we have in modern communication? Perhaps Braille evokes a similar sensitivity to touch, but it negates sight. I have heard that many diagnosed learning disabilities disappear when the learner is given alternative ways to process information. I wonder- would using touch and sight give a larger percentage of the population a learning advantage?

I suppose it may be too late to change the essentials of reading and writing systems for the global society...