Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Don't fear growth and change.

Susan Savage-Rumbaugh's work with bonobo apes, which can understand spoken language and learn tasks by watching, forces the audience to rethink how much of what a species can do is determined by biology -- and how much by cultural exposure.

Go, Monkeys, Go!

The sexual, extremely social Bonobo apes are amongst the most empathetic and egalitarian species in the world. They use their sensuality for communication as well as conflict resolution. I'm actually not sure what species of primates featured in this photo, but I found it myself in one of over 600 National Geographic Magazines I had "inherited" at one point. An incredible photo, that toothy grin says it all.

This is one of my most favourite TED Talks that I have ever seen. Starting around 5:30 onwards literally causes my jaw to drop. How anyone could watch this video and deny evolutionary science astounds me. Why do people get so offended by the ability to admit that as a species, we are here through growth and change? An incredible story of sharing culture, tools, and language with another species:


3 comments:

  1. Hi, always something a bit different to read - thank you.
    i've just nominated you for the sunshine blog award - check it out at http://soapstarcanada.blogspot.com/2010/02/sunshine-blog-award.html
    Vicky :-)

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  2. Wow Farren, now that is an interesting blog post! I definitely am going to go back and read some other posts now.

    http://www.bellissimadesigns.etsy.com

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  3. Haha, definitely not your usual ETSY blog ramblings, hey? I know this post was a little risque, but at the same time, our sexual evolution has brought us so far - we do we refuse to talk about the very thing that makes us tick?

    Love to all!

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