Tech | February 22, 2011 | 7 comments

Monkeys 'display self-doubt' like humans

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9401000/9401945.stm

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Monkeys trained to play computer games have helped to show that it is not just humans that feel self-doubt and uncertainty, a study says.
link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9401000/9401945.stm
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    Community,   Tech,   Technology
  2. tags:
    Computer,  Game,  human,  Monkey
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7 comments // Monkeys 'display self-doubt' like humans

  • GISchmo
  • Spicytoy
  • Weedy_Seadragon
  • Monkey_Films
  • Psymoniac
  • Monkey_Films
    • +1
      Monkey_Films  
    • Psymoniac:

      Actually, you are not. It is the human and then the American ego that keeps us from seeing that we are not so unique. Just like the way Americans speak down to someone of a foreign tongue, assuming they are not as intelligent because the struggle with American English, we assume animals are not as intelligent because we don't understand them.

      I'll grant you one thing. The human ego is unlike that of any other animal, but that, in no way, make us better creatures or more intelligent.

    • 2 years ago
  • s_peak
    • +2
      s_peak  

    • I mean, this is cool and everything... but I keep seeing studies like this that seem so obvious. Is it really not apparent enough to everyone yet that we are actually related to other animals in the web of life? Dogs and cats remember us and feel some forms of emotions. Obvious. Many types of animals, including some insects, display primitive examples of theory of mind.... meaning, they know that you think something different than they do. The amount of neurons required to do math is tiny, and in fact, bees have more than enough to do arithmetic, multiplication and more. Being a student of microbiology, I think most people would be surprised to learn (as scientists of all walks are only just recently starting to) that even bacteria communicate (quorum sensing) and work together in ways that we're just beginning to see.

      We have to stop thinking of ourselves as some magic case that's completely disconnected from the rest of life here. We need them more than they need us. In fact, without them, the planet's systems suffer (no fertilizer, pollination, nutrient transmission, grazing, etc, etc)... but the opposite is true with us.

      Not to be a sourpuss, but I just think there are way more important things to study. Things we can't assume.

    • 2 years ago
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