Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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A better question is, why aren't we doing this with people? ^_^

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Because dumb chicks put out more.

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

"My question to you and my answer is what would lead you to believe that if this was possible, it would not have already occured in nature?"

Because nature doesn't totally stop the breeding of the dumb and force the breeding of the smart.

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

Would it be ok for them to believe in astrology?

It looks like you would create a super-trainable chimp, but you'd need to do a lot more than merely language training (if you could breed chimps that want to learn to play pinochle, that would be something). Even if you manage to increase the language center of the brain, there would still be an awful lot of distance between chimps and humans. More like breeding a pig to have a trunk and large ears. I don't see how it would threaten religion.

The scariest thing about this is what new fetishes would be unleashed ("Live XXX CHIMP-CHAT").

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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The scariest thing about this is what new fetishes would be unleashed ("Live XXX CHIMP-CHAT").

[/ QUOTE ] Who's your Sklansky!

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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This one might really be original. In any case it is highly relevant so I'm back to naming things after me.


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Nh.

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(Specifically the project would be declared a success the first time a chimp registered for, and put a post on, the Two Plus Two Philosphy Forum).


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It seems reasonable that one of the current wunder-chimps could effectively accomplish this feat already (although they may not really know what they are discussing or that they're engaging in a community with other beings).

This isn't really just a nit, but from your example I'm not exactly sure what it is you're asking. It doesn't seem you're asking that chimpanzees will gain an equal level of intelligence as most humans (after all, I could find numerous examples in this very forum of sub-human intellect). Or are you? In short, would the ability to use a computer in order to join and type some message on the internet be what you're after, or is it the ability to actually be able to engage in the discussions on a consistent basis and have some understanding of what is going on?

FWIW (male) chimpanzees have already exhibited a large propensity for accomplishing difficult feats in return for 'chimp-porn.' Think of the possibilities if female chimpanzees could be instructed to give chimp lap dances for a reward! It could be the breakthrough that would catapult your super smart chimp group to success.

Yugoslav

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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(Specifically the project would be declared a success the first time a chimp registered for, and put a post on, the Two Plus Two Philosphy Forum).

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I don't know about Science/Math/Philosophy, but I strongly suspect that they've already posted in some of the other forums.

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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(Specifically the project would be declared a success the first time a chimp registered for, and put a post on, the Two Plus Two Philosphy Forum).

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I don't know about Science/Math/Philosophy, but I strongly suspect that they've already posted in some of the other forums.

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NH

But, don't be so doubtful about here. You must be new to this forum.

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

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I dont think chimps have a certain lobe or something that would enable spoken language even if there was a voicebox operation. But anyway, selective breeding is astonishingly quick compared to natural selection. Breeding for intelligence might not take long at all depending on how lucky you are to get the right mutations along the way.

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Yea, It would be blazingly fast compared to natural selection, but how many orders of magnitude are we talking?


-blake

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

I don't know the answer. I'm inclined to say yes but that it would take many many many years (shorter than our natural evolution, much longer than the human lifespan).

I don't think this is original. In a neurosciecne class I took at cty camp when I was young we were supposed to come up experiments to propose if we had a million dollar grant. The question I came up with was not your but very similar. Essentially the question was would chimps taight sign language (or how to communicate in other ways), teach that to their offspring,a nd if so how effectively. I still believe this lies at the root of your question as well, because first, it doesn't matter what knowledge your species acquires if it can't pass it on, and second, the scientists could only fake it for so long and only so effectively. Anyway, I don't know if my idea was original or not, I went into physics instead and never did the research, but if I could come up with it at a young age I'm sure someone in the field has come up wiht a similar more sophisticated question.

Re: The Sklansky Chimpanzee Question
 

Hasn't it already happened?