4 ms·
Isn't this what humans do?
by noja 2y ago
Isn't this what humans do?
- madaxe_again 2y agoYes. We are particularly accomplished mimics. Originality is exceedingly rare. We like to think of ourselves as different, but we are just inhabited by far more ghosts than animals without language.
- penguin_booze 2y agoWe do mimic, but I was saying the animal wasn't exactly (probably) expressing its affection/adoration for a human baby with a flying kiss gesture. Had the animal picked up a vulgar gesture from a human visitor, it might as well have chosen that gesture at the baby instead, without necessarily knowing its inappropriate. A human parent, understandably, will not be very pleased with such an incident.
- MailleQuiMaille 2y agoSo you are saying that it might have learn by trial and error to use appropriate social signs directed to the appropriate social settings…? And that differs from us how exactly ?
- swores 2y agoObviously it would be interesting if that's what happened, but no, what they were saying is that it could well be that it had only been exposed to visitors doing nice gestures and was repeating them back with no understanding of nice vs nasty. Not that the anecdote proves their guess is more right than yours, but afaik there is more evidence of animals mirroring unthinkingly than understanding.
- smusamashah 2y agoMirroring and copying unthinkingly is how we humans learn. If what we mirrored gives us the desired results we keep doing it. Questioning and understanding those actions comes lot later. I have learned this from my toddler son who picked up some 2 3 word sentences from the cartoons that he watches. He ofcourse has no clue what those words mean, but he does know when to use them and what response he gets from them. English isn't the language we speak at home but he picked up "wake up" when I am sleeping and try to wake me up, "careful" when doing something where he or one of us could fall. All by seeing and hearing things said repeatedly on similar actions in cartoons.
- swores 2y agoSure, we learn by copying things. But there isn't, that I'm aware of, any evidence that an orangutan has done the learning part rather than just the copying part. It wouldn't shock me if we did learn they can learn that way, but it also wouldn't shock me if it was just blindly copying human gestures without learning anything from what happens when they do.
- ASalazarMX 2y agoI still think that said orangutan didn't have to blow a kiss and wave goodbye, after all it already had what it wanted: seeing a baby. It could as well just turn around and leave. Orangutans likely don't blow kisses in the wild, so it not only imitated it, but also used it in an appropriate manner and context, without an immediate need to satisfy. Chimps are roughly as smart as a 5 year-old human, and toddlers sure blow kisses and wave goodbye with full intention. Great apes are more human-like than most people think: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17chimp.html https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17chimp.html
- mc32 2y agoIt’s akin to cargo culting, or rain dancing, etc. A dog asking for beggin strips…
- saurik 2y agoThe concept of cargo culting came from a situation with humans; while a dog might also do it, it doesn't make sense to cite it as a reason why a behavior is somehow inhuman.
- namaria 2y agoYes if the gesture chosen was different our reaction would be different. That's the point. If you had said nonsense, I would not have understood.