The record is now like 26 in a minute or something, by a guy who has done videos on his bird’s training for years. I think the bird’s name is Apollo
They have arguments over what things are, like you can’t convince Apollo a lizard isn’t a bug, because Apollo has understood a bug to be a little critter he could potentially eat. You can’t convince him ceramic tile isn’t made of rock, because he’s kinda got a point
Apollo babbles to himself when he’s alone too, but you know what? So do I. Especially when I’m trying to pick up a foreign language, I’ll practice words until they feel natural on my tongue
And everyone seems so quick to forget Koko or label her an exception. She basically spoke in poetry, understood mortality, and described herself as a good gorilla person when asked what she was
Animals understand, it’s just rare to find ones that are motivated to sit and communicate on our terms. Every “special” human trait, from language to culture to sense of self and abstract thinking seems to be pretty common, we keep finding it in many animals so we keep moving the goalposts
Apollo has understood a bug to be a little critter he could potentially eat
How can you know that? He only knows a handful of words. The lizard probably looks more like a bug than like a cup or Wario. He’s familiar with the phrase “what’s this?” and “what made of?” If he had any real understanding, why didn’t he just ask those questions to expand his vocabulary?
I’m a big fan of Apollo, and he’s a lot of fun to watch, but his use of language is not demonstrative of a deeper understanding.
Patterson reported that Koko invented new signs to communicate novel thoughts. For example, she said that nobody taught Koko the word for “ring”, so Koko combined the words “finger” and “bracelet”, hence “finger-bracelet”.[22][promotional source?] This type of claim was seen as a typical problem with Patterson’s methodology, as it relies on a human interpreter of Koko’s intentions.
Other researchers argued that Koko did not understand the meaning behind what she was doing and learned to complete the signs simply because the researchers rewarded her for doing so (indicating that her actions were the product of operant conditioning)
The record is now like 26 in a minute or something, by a guy who has done videos on his bird’s training for years. I think the bird’s name is Apollo
They have arguments over what things are, like you can’t convince Apollo a lizard isn’t a bug, because Apollo has understood a bug to be a little critter he could potentially eat. You can’t convince him ceramic tile isn’t made of rock, because he’s kinda got a point
Apollo babbles to himself when he’s alone too, but you know what? So do I. Especially when I’m trying to pick up a foreign language, I’ll practice words until they feel natural on my tongue
And everyone seems so quick to forget Koko or label her an exception. She basically spoke in poetry, understood mortality, and described herself as a good gorilla person when asked what she was
Animals understand, it’s just rare to find ones that are motivated to sit and communicate on our terms. Every “special” human trait, from language to culture to sense of self and abstract thinking seems to be pretty common, we keep finding it in many animals so we keep moving the goalposts
The video I linked is literally of Apollo.
How can you know that? He only knows a handful of words. The lizard probably looks more like a bug than like a cup or Wario. He’s familiar with the phrase “what’s this?” and “what made of?” If he had any real understanding, why didn’t he just ask those questions to expand his vocabulary?
I’m a big fan of Apollo, and he’s a lot of fun to watch, but his use of language is not demonstrative of a deeper understanding.
And regarding Koko: