this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
366 points (96.0% liked)

Comic Strips

23030 readers
2684 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] muzzle@lemmy.zip 40 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 50 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

While Nim was in New York, Terrace believed he was learning sign language. But in reviewing the data, Terrace came to a conclusion that surprised almost everyone involved: Nim, he said, was not using language at all. Terrace said that he changed his mind when watching videotapes of Nim (in his classroom). Language requires the use of sentences, and Nim didn't use sentences. Though Nim recognized and used signs, Terrace said he did not initiate conversation. When Nim combined signs, they tended to be highly repetitive and filled with "wild cards"—words like ME, HUG, NIM, and MORE. For example, Nim's longest utterance, 16 signs, was: "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." The videotapes, Terrace argued, proved that Nim mimicked his teachers and used signs strictly to get a reward, not unlike a dog or horse.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Chimps can't use grammar, but bonobos can play minecraft.

[–] muzzle@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] muzzle@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 19 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I taught an ape to play Minecraft

The moment from the video that really convinced Me that Kanzi understood the game was when Kanzi was playing online with a human, and the human picked up an item that Kanzi wanted. And Kanzi went apeshit! He got really upset that the human had stolen his item in the game. An emotional reaction like that is only possible if you understand the game.