The Knowledge Review The 20 Most Innovative STEM College and Universiti | Page 35

them from doing even elementary mathematics such as
simple multiplication or adding a column of numbers or
division, a feat still handled by abacus. It’s easy for us to
make a negative judgment about the Roman numerals, but
the real fact is that it was just one of many inferior
numbering systems used in ancient times. Distinctively, the
feature that made Roman numerals so bad was the fact that
each number lacked specific numeric positioning and was in
fact an equation, and this extra layer of intricacy prevented
people from attempting higher math. Roman numerals were
a system problem, and a huge one at that, which prevented
an entire civilization from advancing through the elemental
field of math and science.
Fast forward to today. We are living in a society where nigh
on everything is different from the days of the Roman
Empire. But the counterintuitive fact is that we are even
more dependent today on our systems than the Romans ever
were. Examples of such system that we take for granted ─
systems for accounting, banking, procurement, weights and
measurement, traffic management, and so on. Much like the
Romans, we are immersed in the use of these systems to a
point where we hardly ever step back and question the
reasoning and logic behind them.
Believe it or not, our systems virtually govern every aspect
of our lives. They determine how we live and where we
live, where and when we travel, what we eat and where we
work, how much money we will make, the job we do, the
friends we have and even how long we will live.
Nevertheless, though subconsciously aware of the fact, we
seldom step back to fully understand the context of our
existence. Quite similar to how a fish is unaware and
disregarded of the existence of water.
Our systems are what control the flow of commerce, govern
our effectiveness as members of society, and create much of
the stress we face on a daily basis. There are a number of
restrictive systems that are preventing us from doing great
things. One prominent example is the Keyboard – We use
keyboards that were intended to slow the speed of typing by
placing the most frequently used keys randomly across the
face of the keyboard. Keyboards in any configuration are an
extremely inept way to transfer knowledge from one person
to another.
After studying American systems and applying the
“equivalency to Roman numerals” test, it is quite evident
that we, as a society, are operating at somewhere around 5-
10% efficiency, or even less. Some of the other examples of
restrictive systems include the Half-Implemented Metric
System, Income Tax System, Laws etc.
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N O W L E D Education.
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