Is there really a better tool than...

...the human hand?

Well, even the hammer is a mere extension. Right?

 

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I don't think of the hand as a tool but something that uses tools.

 

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A hand is a tool. When a beaver builds a dam he is using a tool - his (or her) tools. Does not matter how these tools are acquired.

 

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What about the mind? I'm sure there are some people who consider it a tool.

 

Well let us use the dictionary to define a tool.

tool
to͞ol/
noun

1. 1.
   a device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function.
   "gardening tools"
   synonyms:implement, utensil, instrument, device, apparatus, gadget, appliance,machine, contrivance, contraption;
   informalgizmo

 

The hand most certainly is a tool. I use my hand to clean as good or sometimes better than a sponge. The fact is what good are tools, and YES, they are also tools, but what good are they without a hand?

The grip, the fingers...the fingernails. We can dig...holes in the earth with the utmost precision.

Daecon, the mind is not...well, it is more esoteric...

But, then it is a tool that controls a body.

 

What good are tools without hands, well look at robots doing what hands used to do.

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Hands built the tools that built the robots, obviously.

Just as obviously, a hand without a mind is not a tool, just an appendage.

 

And the hand is just a mere extension of your mind.

 

Obviously. Your first sentence proves my theory.

 

We are talking about a hand attached to a brain. You know that. Five fingers and six would be too many. It sounds facetious...but, a sixth finger would be a hindrance. Think without tools what you can do with just your hands.

 

Fire is a tool as well.

 

Your hand is not a tool it is an appendage. According to that flawed definition all animals are tool users.

I think what you are trying to say is that there is no tool that has the multi-functional ability of a hand. That I can agree with.

 

Not if we were used to them. An octopus does quite well with eight arms, for example.

 

No reason to say that. Billvon is correct.

Furthermore five, a prime number, is worst than either 4 or 6. I.e. a number system based on 8 or 12 is much better than one based on 10, so much better that even with our stupid based 10 system in wide use, computers often use octal or hexadecimal systems. The 16 number symbols of it are:
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,&E.
With either of these it would not be essential for all computer to first convert from our base 10 system for their computations.

Unless you are well versed in computer science you can not appreciated what a great misfortune it is that humans have five fingers.

3000 years ago, 60 was used as it has many factors. It still exists in the division of an hour. With great ease you know how many minutes 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6 and 1/12 of an hour is. The more factors your base has the more efficient calculation in that base is. 24 is also a good base, but lacks the 1/5 easy division. It has instead the 1/8 division, but not essential as doing 1/2 division three times gives the 1/8 result.

 

I never got into any kind in-depth level of study regarding apes hands, did not think it was necessary regarding their limitations. Human hands may contain a higher number of nerve endings in the fingertips than what we would see elsewhere. The bird example does not show much, so not going to get into that.

Furthermore, I am not aware of anything on this planet with the precision of the human hand. I only used "tool" due to the lack of a better term.

If you (the astute\learned\advanced reader) were to coin a term for the human hand what would it be?

What, in your opinion, is equal to the number of functions the human hand can perform? (Note: Should go without saying but this is while acing in concert with intelligence - AKA, a brain)

So many things are truly perplexing. Well, the more you know, the more you know there's more to know.

 

Yes and they can be very clever / understand, but that is limited. I have a middle aged cockatoo (has stopped laying eggs) I dearly love (and she me). She eats a tiny amount of salt, directly from the holes in the salt shaker, bread, and some broccoli* on the breakfast table with wife and me. A thousand or more times, she has let the tiny square of bread fall over the table edge. It seems she can not anticipate that the bread will be gone if she moves it too close to the edge.

She knows, now, that it is her image in the mirror. (Few animals can do this) For first year or two she was hostile to that “mirror bird” (and it to her, as I moved her closer to the mirror on my finger). Then for about a year, she would hid behind my neck and peak out to see if the mirror bird was still there. Now she just ignores it as far a I can tell. Some times while I am brushing my teeth with her on my shoulder, adjusting her feathers, it seems as if she stops to look in the mirror to see how they look.

* Mainly she likes to tear it apart but some is eaten. More than half the bread also end up on the floor. She is a very particular eater. We must buy the same brand of multi-seed bread - she will not eat a competor's brand! Her water must be less than two days old. When I refresh the glass at the sink she uses, she gives me her "thank you" chirp! She has at least a half a dozen different chirps she talks with. If I say "speak" she will give one of them. Another is used to ask me to pet her head, but she never thanks for that afterwards.

 

Bucky Fuller once said: "The most important tool in your tool kit is your mind(brain?)".