great point… and if after the 12 you start touching your thumb to the other side of those phalanges, you now have 24. now each time you go through the 24 cycle, your other hand can tick along the same cycle like an hour hand. now you are counting to 550+ with 2 hands.
i remember hearing that this was an ancient native american lesson long before it was understood by science. how they could have known this? are they a remnant of a previously more developed society?