11 ms·

Chimpanzee Browsing Instagram on iPhone with Precision

98 points by okket 8y ago

jchrisa 8y ago
I used to play with an idea to build kiosks for wild chimps with video phone recording software. With an interface tuned for them, I wonder if you could build social software that actually provided utility to the chimpanzees. I can imagine something like TikTok being able to send news or otherwise connect them in a meaningful way.
- chatmasta 8y ago
  There is a Ted talk about an “Interspecies Internet:” https://www.ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_in_progress/up-next?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_...
- lake99 8y ago
  Facebook is probably experimenting with that... except for humans. Explains why Zuckerberg would put tape over his own computers' cameras.
waffleguy 8y ago
So there is at least one intelligent Instagram user out there.
coldcode 8y ago
Impressive, but I would be more impressed if it started posting and generating followers, then monetizing the followers into a media empire. Isn't that the whole point of instagram?
- mbrock 8y ago
  With a simpler interface for posting and a more stimulating like reaction, who knows?
- imgabe 8y ago
  There's already a monkey selfie created by a wildlife photographer who set up a camera that monkeys could activate to try to get a picture of them. It's embroiled in a copyright dispute over whether the photographer or the monkey owns the photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie_copyright_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie_copyright_disput...
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    > The disputes involve Wikimedia Commons and the blog Techdirt, which have hosted the images following their publication in newspapers in July 2011 over Slater's objections, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who have argued that the macaque should be assigned the copyright > In April 2018, the appeals court affirmed that animals can not legally hold copyrights and expressed concern that PETA's motivations had been to promote their own interests rather than to protect the legal rights of animals.
  - edgarvaldes 8y ago
    >whether the photographer or the monkey owns the photo Or none of them
- Canada 8y ago
  She should try, I think she's got a great shot at being instafamous. I'll be impressed is she monetizes it.
hguhghuff 8y ago
Back in the old days there was slot of talk about how hard computers were to use, and how much work remained to be done to make user interfaces usable. The task is complete. Also here is a painting elephant: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=owSZs7H24UY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=owSZs7H24UY
- Jyaif 8y ago
  FWIW the elephant was tortured into learning how to do this.
  - nickelcitymario 8y ago
    It was? Do you have a source for this? That's horrible if true.
    - rchaud 8y ago
      If this is the video I'm thinking of (can't open it at work), the elephant is chained to a post while painting. These types of "sanctuaries" are nothing of the sort, they exploit animals for tourist $. There are tourist-friendly elephant sanctuaries that are built on respecting the animals' personal space; Elephant Nature Park in Thailand is one. Tourists are basically only allowed to observe the elephants in a forest/jungle habitat. At other places, tourists are allowed to hug and play with baby elephants, and the animals are trained to put up with it, while the mothers are chained and kept apart from the babies during "tourist time".
      - nickelcitymario 8y ago
        That's awful. Thanks for the info. FWIW, I don't see any chains in the video, but it does seem more likely that they were trained abusively (like circus elephants) to get them to do this.
thestartup 8y ago
This sounds like a good demonstration of how mindless the activity of scrolling through Instagram truly is. (Even a monkey can do it). It's similar to watching TV or mindlessly browsing the web for non-intellectual activities. Perhaps we should be concerned about the impact of these technologies on our evolution as a species. There does seem to be supporting research for this (sorry for not providing links/ref).
- xiphias2 8y ago
  It's always interesting to see the opening scene, but of course that is too simple to explain what is happening over the world: https://youtu.be/YwZ0ZUy7P3E https://youtu.be/YwZ0ZUy7P3E
- WindowsFon4life 8y ago
  "Monkey" in reference to a Pan troglodyte?
- djtriptych 8y ago
  Why isn't it a demonstration of how intuitive the hardware and UI are.
  - higginsc 8y ago
    haters gonna hate
- wcoenen 8y ago
  > Perhaps we should be concerned about the impact of these technologies on our evolution as a species. Tinder is already breeding humans in a sense.
- thisgoodlife 8y ago
  Chimpanzees are not monkeys.
- anotheryou 8y ago
  About as mindless as friendships, eating, love, sex, handling death. The bit of human sophistication and intellectual pleasures are no golden throne. We are animals with a kink for tech and thought, but not much more.
ASalazarMX 8y ago
With precision is too vague. The chimpanzee actually chooses what to see: scrolls, watches chimp videos, swipes off boring snake videos, etc. It's said they are roughly as intelligent as a toddler, and it certainly looks that way. Awesome.
once-in-a-while 8y ago
They are just biological, programmable robots. Why would anyone think this impossible?
kylek 8y ago
Next unicorn IPO: Tinder for chimps
- whitepoplar 8y ago
  You kid, but...https://twitter.com/Sierra_2015/status/929822581699629061 https://twitter.com/Sierra_2015/status/929822581699629061
wishrider 8y ago
The left swipe doesn't work on my android phone, I have to click the icons. Does that only work on the iPhone?
- saagarjha 8y ago
  Yes, it’s a standard iOS gesture with no equivalent on Android other than implementations that apps try to come up themselves.
  - dhritzkiv 8y ago
    Not entirely: the standard behaviour of navigation on iOS is to allow swiping from only the left edge to go back. It seems that Instagram added the ability to swipe left from anywhere on the screen, not just the edge.
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      I don't use Instagram, but I'm not surprised that they've decided to "customize" that behavior.
  - akabaka777 8y ago
    pretty much every android phone now has gesture support
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      Not for the gesture I'm talking about.
  - timwis 8y ago
    Oh thank god. I thought for a moment there the chimp could figure it out but I couldn't.
wortelefant 8y ago
A 2005 study observed this behavior in macaques; male monkeys would pay some amount of fruit juice to look at leaders' faces or females' hindquarters ("socially useful information"). https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050131/full/news050131-5.html https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050131/full/news050131-5.ht...
lukaa 8y ago
Go monkeys go. Even title make me laugh.
gurumeditations 8y ago
Can’t help but be reminded of a great album https://youtu.be/uVSBawXaoT4 https://youtu.be/uVSBawXaoT4

98 points by okket 8y ago

I used to play with an idea to build kiosks for wild chimps with video phone recording software. With an interface tuned for them, I wonder if you could build social software that actually provided utility to the chimpanzees. I can imagine something like TikTok being able to send news or otherwise connect them in a meaningful way.

chatmasta 8y ago
There is a Ted talk about an “Interspecies Internet:” https://www.ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_in_progress/up-next?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/the_interspecies_internet_an_idea_...
lake99 8y ago
Facebook is probably experimenting with that... except for humans. Explains why Zuckerberg would put tape over his own computers' cameras.

waffleguy 8y ago

So there is at least one intelligent Instagram user out there.

coldcode 8y ago

Impressive, but I would be more impressed if it started posting and generating followers, then monetizing the followers into a media empire. Isn't that the whole point of instagram?

mbrock 8y ago
With a simpler interface for posting and a more stimulating like reaction, who knows?
imgabe 8y ago
There's already a monkey selfie created by a wildlife photographer who set up a camera that monkeys could activate to try to get a picture of them. It's embroiled in a copyright dispute over whether the photographer or the monkey owns the photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie_copyright_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_selfie_copyright_disput...
- saagarjha 8y ago
  > The disputes involve Wikimedia Commons and the blog Techdirt, which have hosted the images following their publication in newspapers in July 2011 over Slater's objections, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who have argued that the macaque should be assigned the copyright > In April 2018, the appeals court affirmed that animals can not legally hold copyrights and expressed concern that PETA's motivations had been to promote their own interests rather than to protect the legal rights of animals.
- edgarvaldes 8y ago
  >whether the photographer or the monkey owns the photo Or none of them
Canada 8y ago
She should try, I think she's got a great shot at being instafamous. I'll be impressed is she monetizes it.

hguhghuff 8y ago

Back in the old days there was slot of talk about how hard computers were to use, and how much work remained to be done to make user interfaces usable. The task is complete. Also here is a painting elephant: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=owSZs7H24UY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=owSZs7H24UY

Jyaif 8y ago
FWIW the elephant was tortured into learning how to do this.
- nickelcitymario 8y ago
  It was? Do you have a source for this? That's horrible if true.
  - rchaud 8y ago
    If this is the video I'm thinking of (can't open it at work), the elephant is chained to a post while painting. These types of "sanctuaries" are nothing of the sort, they exploit animals for tourist $. There are tourist-friendly elephant sanctuaries that are built on respecting the animals' personal space; Elephant Nature Park in Thailand is one. Tourists are basically only allowed to observe the elephants in a forest/jungle habitat. At other places, tourists are allowed to hug and play with baby elephants, and the animals are trained to put up with it, while the mothers are chained and kept apart from the babies during "tourist time".
    - nickelcitymario 8y ago
      That's awful. Thanks for the info. FWIW, I don't see any chains in the video, but it does seem more likely that they were trained abusively (like circus elephants) to get them to do this.

thestartup 8y ago

This sounds like a good demonstration of how mindless the activity of scrolling through Instagram truly is. (Even a monkey can do it). It's similar to watching TV or mindlessly browsing the web for non-intellectual activities. Perhaps we should be concerned about the impact of these technologies on our evolution as a species. There does seem to be supporting research for this (sorry for not providing links/ref).

xiphias2 8y ago
It's always interesting to see the opening scene, but of course that is too simple to explain what is happening over the world: https://youtu.be/YwZ0ZUy7P3E https://youtu.be/YwZ0ZUy7P3E
WindowsFon4life 8y ago
"Monkey" in reference to a Pan troglodyte?
djtriptych 8y ago
Why isn't it a demonstration of how intuitive the hardware and UI are.
- higginsc 8y ago
  haters gonna hate
wcoenen 8y ago
> Perhaps we should be concerned about the impact of these technologies on our evolution as a species. Tinder is already breeding humans in a sense.
thisgoodlife 8y ago
Chimpanzees are not monkeys.
anotheryou 8y ago
About as mindless as friendships, eating, love, sex, handling death. The bit of human sophistication and intellectual pleasures are no golden throne. We are animals with a kink for tech and thought, but not much more.

ASalazarMX 8y ago

With precision is too vague. The chimpanzee actually chooses what to see: scrolls, watches chimp videos, swipes off boring snake videos, etc. It's said they are roughly as intelligent as a toddler, and it certainly looks that way. Awesome.

once-in-a-while 8y ago

They are just biological, programmable robots. Why would anyone think this impossible?

kylek 8y ago

Next unicorn IPO: Tinder for chimps

whitepoplar 8y ago
You kid, but...https://twitter.com/Sierra_2015/status/929822581699629061 https://twitter.com/Sierra_2015/status/929822581699629061

wishrider 8y ago

The left swipe doesn't work on my android phone, I have to click the icons. Does that only work on the iPhone?

saagarjha 8y ago
Yes, it’s a standard iOS gesture with no equivalent on Android other than implementations that apps try to come up themselves.
- dhritzkiv 8y ago
  Not entirely: the standard behaviour of navigation on iOS is to allow swiping from only the left edge to go back. It seems that Instagram added the ability to swipe left from anywhere on the screen, not just the edge.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    I don't use Instagram, but I'm not surprised that they've decided to "customize" that behavior.
- akabaka777 8y ago
  pretty much every android phone now has gesture support
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    Not for the gesture I'm talking about.
- timwis 8y ago
  Oh thank god. I thought for a moment there the chimp could figure it out but I couldn't.

wortelefant 8y ago

A 2005 study observed this behavior in macaques; male monkeys would pay some amount of fruit juice to look at leaders' faces or females' hindquarters ("socially useful information"). https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050131/full/news050131-5.html https://www.nature.com/news/2005/050131/full/news050131-5.ht...

lukaa 8y ago

Go monkeys go. Even title make me laugh.

gurumeditations 8y ago

Can’t help but be reminded of a great album https://youtu.be/uVSBawXaoT4 https://youtu.be/uVSBawXaoT4