People always act amazed that the Incans could line up their temples precisely with sunset on the equinox or solstice. I did, too, until I realized they lived outside more than we do and didn't have TV. All anybody had to do was leave a rock in the same place for a year and see if shadows from the mountains lined up the same. Patient of a curious bent probably bet on such things instead of footraces or contests of strength or which virgin would scream the loudest when she was dropped in the volcano.
It turns out Ape House is about a family of bonobos who've learned American Sign Language and Microsoft Windows who get kidnapped by Rupert Murdoch from their academic research environment to be put on a reality teevee show called Ape House. The FCC boots the show off the public airwaves, which Murdoch expected, because of all the sexual activity. Using the publicity about the sex, Murdoch puts them online where you have to subscribe to see them. I'ma bout halfway through now and Murdoch's staff is trying to dream up Survivor-style "monkey wrenches" they can throw into the peaceful ape environment to crank up the drama and raise the ratings. I have seen videos of apes using sign language and chimps using computer interfaces and bonobos are famous for the casual way sex integrates into their lives, so this mostly seems plausible. The once thing I've never seen video evidence for is that in the book the bonobos teach their children sign language and sign to each other. Personally, if I was rich as Bill Gates, I'd be opening pre-schools for the great apes trying to teach them communication skills and anything else I could pay people to think of to see what ideas could become part of their culture, i.e., taught to THEIR children without human intervention. One "proof" of chimp culture I read about is that chimps on one side of Africa don't eat certain nuts because they either don't know there is good nut meat inside or they can't figure out how to crack them. On the other side of Africa, chimps love those nuts and enjoy them all the time. The nuts are pervasive in both areas. The idea just hasn't caught on. I guess what I'm talking about is chimp memetics. I'll stop now. Haha. The captcha is oucha. My link is to a talk about "The Principle of Universal Darwinism"--memetics, i.e., concept replication.
I'm feeling kind of dumb because OD is being a door nail again and the most recent backup I can find of my diary is from 9/11/2009. I didn't follow my own rule of backing it up on the crash/hack anniversary. I wonder if ODRefugee might turn into an ODRefuge.
Could this be proof of the bump in the earth's rotation by the Sendai earthquake on March 11th? Nah. Ever considered collecting all these sunset pictures together in one folder, so one could scroll down, like a flip book and see the sun gradually shift to the right...? (West? North? Wherever...) (I don't know if it's possible to do with Blogspot.)
As to Deve's link, very interesting! Have you heard that Bart Ehrman has written yet another book, this one called Forged? I'm hoping to comb through that one!
People always act amazed that the Incans could line up their temples precisely with sunset on the equinox or solstice. I did, too, until I realized they lived outside more than we do and didn't have TV. All anybody had to do was leave a rock in the same place for a year and see if shadows from the mountains lined up the same.
ReplyDeletePatient of a curious bent probably bet on such things instead of footraces or contests of strength or which virgin would scream the loudest when she was dropped in the volcano.
Patient people of a curious bent. I lost the alliteration in editing.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out Ape House is about a family of bonobos who've learned American Sign Language and Microsoft Windows who get kidnapped by Rupert Murdoch from their academic research environment to be put on a reality teevee show called Ape House.
ReplyDeleteThe FCC boots the show off the public airwaves, which Murdoch expected, because of all the sexual activity.
Using the publicity about the sex, Murdoch puts them online where you have to subscribe to see them.
I'ma bout halfway through now and Murdoch's staff is trying to dream up Survivor-style "monkey wrenches" they can throw into the peaceful ape environment to crank up the drama and raise the ratings.
I have seen videos of apes using sign language and chimps using computer interfaces and bonobos are famous for the casual way sex integrates into their lives, so this mostly seems plausible.
The once thing I've never seen video evidence for is that in the book the bonobos teach their children sign language and sign to each other.
Personally, if I was rich as Bill Gates, I'd be opening pre-schools for the great apes trying to teach them communication skills and anything else I could pay people to think of to see what ideas could become part of their culture, i.e., taught to THEIR children without human intervention.
One "proof" of chimp culture I read about is that chimps on one side of Africa don't eat certain nuts because they either don't know there is good nut meat inside or they can't figure out how to crack them.
On the other side of Africa, chimps love those nuts and enjoy them all the time. The nuts are pervasive in both areas. The idea just hasn't caught on. I guess what I'm talking about is chimp memetics.
I'll stop now.
Haha. The captcha is oucha.
My link is to a talk about "The Principle of Universal Darwinism"--memetics, i.e., concept replication.
I'm feeling kind of dumb because OD is being a door nail again and the most recent backup I can find of my diary is from 9/11/2009. I didn't follow my own rule of backing it up on the crash/hack anniversary.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if ODRefugee might turn into an ODRefuge.
Do you have any observations about the ommissions or commissions of this huffing piece?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-m-swenson-phd/five-things-everyone-shou_b_835721.html
I'm working on a pun or something. It currently depends on the ancient language of computer bulletin boards.
"A post ate my faith."
Could this be proof of the bump in the earth's rotation by the Sendai earthquake on March 11th? Nah. Ever considered collecting all these sunset pictures together in one folder, so one could scroll down, like a flip book and see the sun gradually shift to the right...? (West? North? Wherever...) (I don't know if it's possible to do with Blogspot.)
ReplyDeleteAs to Deve's link, very interesting! Have you heard that Bart Ehrman has written yet another book, this one called Forged? I'm hoping to comb through that one!