How can a race incapable of conceiving discrete quantities evolve?

Shamelessly inspired by this question, where a race was capable of counting only 0, 1 and "˜many', I have designed a yet more extreme race!!

The Continuuoids are a pretty complex race. They can solve problems, they can build homes, they might even be intelligent.

But they have no concept of equality. As an extension of this they have no concept of discrete mathematics at all. None is smaller than some, but none is not really a different thing than some. In places the world is less like other places in the world, but it's still the same world. Essentially the way they perceive the world is as a continuum, where discrete boundaries don't exist and all things are actually just one thing.

You can imagine my descriptions here are a bit tortuous, as the concept of discrete items is so ingrained into humans that it's hard to conceive of a world without it.

And that's the problem.

Physics likes to split things into this/that. As a survival tool the ability to distinguish between "˜thing one' and "˜thing two' is pretty darn vital. Which makes designing a species without the ability to discern when one thing is not another thing very, very difficult.

What I'm searching for is a plausible evolutionary path that could lead to a problem solving species without this ability.

Ill rank answers by plausibility and simplicity. If this race is "˜intelligent' (even if it's difficult for a human to quantify how that is) the all the better.

posted almost 5 years ago

Joe Bloggs‭

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