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machines, chimps, people, and shared expectations
U28550@UICVM.BITNET
Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:15:33 CST
I've been reading the exchanges between Hill, Graber, McCreery, Wilson, et. al.
with a great deal of interest. Just before Laura Bohannan retired, some of us
were talking about the fact that other primates shared non-genetically derived
sets of expectations, commncational forms, etc.. So is that culture? Laura
listened for a while, cleared her throat (she demands silence when she speaks),
and said only this:
Yes, indeed, monkeys and apes are quite intelligent and communicative. But
only human beings would lay down their lives in mortal combat over the
difference between transsubstantiation and consubstantiation. That's culture,
friends.
Yes indeed.
Mike Lieber
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