Can’t help but feel we’re minimizing the efforts of the chimps with typewriters. While unsuccessful so far they’ve had access to them for far shorter than we’ve had access to written language. Could it be that we are judging the species that will produce the greatest literary minds in its artistic infancy? While we would attribute their output to randomness could it be that the chimps will adopt and modify language overtime? This awakening could be compared to Helen Keller’s coming into language but this comparison is inadequate. There is no guarantee nonhuman primates will engage with and understand language in the same ways humans do. Fundamental things like phonemes will look different and it’s possible some chimp-friendly order of organization would supersede grammar and maybe even the concept of words altogether.
Then again we may be looking in the wrong place. Whales have something like language and dialect but so do crows. Still whales have bigger brains. Perhaps they are our salvation.
I’m confident some of their abstention from contributing either their own original art pieces or providing commentary from their particular genus’s perspective is an act of silent protest. Their dignified refusal to engage with currents of artistic expression unless eating their own poop and each other and all the rape is some kind of transgressive performance piece
They've also been fetishized at a few rare points in human history, apparently. The Soviet ape soldiers idea sounds like an old pulp fiction mad scientist story, but allegedly there's some truth on it. They even found a volunteer to mother the first generation of man-apes, a woman who was willing to give her body to the Soviet cause. It would have been in-vitro fertilization, so not exactly a porno... but the Ivanov fellow who was behind the project must have been an interesting individual indeed.
It's unclear whether Stalin ever actually gave the humanzee project any serious thought, or if he funded the building of a primate center under such pretenses as a way of punking his subordinates: "Is he serious?" 🤣
Nim (and apparently Travis) were also subjected to breastfeeding from human women, as well as, apparently, other kinds of erotic play. We suspect more forms of interspecies eroticism took place in these and similar situations, although those involved are naturally remaining reticent.
I'd also like to add a positive mention in the realm of science fiction. To contextualize, bull gorillas are powerful protectors of their families to be sure, and stronger than any other primate alive today. Yet like us humans, they lack the extra layers of dermal tissue which allow other mammalian families like cats, dogs, and bears to take claw swipes without *as much* damage as they deal us primates. They stand basically no chance against lions, and mostly avoid them. Leopards are more arboreal than lions, and therefore much more of a threat to primates. Gorilla parents have been known to succeed in defeating them when necessary to protect their young, but it's unusual and often comes at the cost of mortal injuries. They'll avoid it if they can, obviously.
All that is to say this: George from the Rampage movie qualifies as a mighty hero in my reckoning. He had no moral obligation whatsoever to protect humans from the results of their own folly, especially when the other two mutated beasts were natural predators while he was not. Yet he chose to do so anyway.
Can’t help but feel we’re minimizing the efforts of the chimps with typewriters. While unsuccessful so far they’ve had access to them for far shorter than we’ve had access to written language. Could it be that we are judging the species that will produce the greatest literary minds in its artistic infancy? While we would attribute their output to randomness could it be that the chimps will adopt and modify language overtime? This awakening could be compared to Helen Keller’s coming into language but this comparison is inadequate. There is no guarantee nonhuman primates will engage with and understand language in the same ways humans do. Fundamental things like phonemes will look different and it’s possible some chimp-friendly order of organization would supersede grammar and maybe even the concept of words altogether.
Then again we may be looking in the wrong place. Whales have something like language and dialect but so do crows. Still whales have bigger brains. Perhaps they are our salvation.
his methods are crude but his ambition cannot be faulted
I’m confident some of their abstention from contributing either their own original art pieces or providing commentary from their particular genus’s perspective is an act of silent protest. Their dignified refusal to engage with currents of artistic expression unless eating their own poop and each other and all the rape is some kind of transgressive performance piece
They've also been fetishized at a few rare points in human history, apparently. The Soviet ape soldiers idea sounds like an old pulp fiction mad scientist story, but allegedly there's some truth on it. They even found a volunteer to mother the first generation of man-apes, a woman who was willing to give her body to the Soviet cause. It would have been in-vitro fertilization, so not exactly a porno... but the Ivanov fellow who was behind the project must have been an interesting individual indeed.
It's unclear whether Stalin ever actually gave the humanzee project any serious thought, or if he funded the building of a primate center under such pretenses as a way of punking his subordinates: "Is he serious?" 🤣
https://youtu.be/kIZtAsLvFto?si=DVBIkV2nAG-fbgDX
Nim (and apparently Travis) were also subjected to breastfeeding from human women, as well as, apparently, other kinds of erotic play. We suspect more forms of interspecies eroticism took place in these and similar situations, although those involved are naturally remaining reticent.
I'd also like to add a positive mention in the realm of science fiction. To contextualize, bull gorillas are powerful protectors of their families to be sure, and stronger than any other primate alive today. Yet like us humans, they lack the extra layers of dermal tissue which allow other mammalian families like cats, dogs, and bears to take claw swipes without *as much* damage as they deal us primates. They stand basically no chance against lions, and mostly avoid them. Leopards are more arboreal than lions, and therefore much more of a threat to primates. Gorilla parents have been known to succeed in defeating them when necessary to protect their young, but it's unusual and often comes at the cost of mortal injuries. They'll avoid it if they can, obviously.
All that is to say this: George from the Rampage movie qualifies as a mighty hero in my reckoning. He had no moral obligation whatsoever to protect humans from the results of their own folly, especially when the other two mutated beasts were natural predators while he was not. Yet he chose to do so anyway.
Worth a watch if you've never seen it.
https://youtu.be/FeIibF8f9uc?si=MYTRMxk0Zz-F6KLz