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WorldWeird: [Sink] It turns out chimps are smarter than college students

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      CommentAuthornexus
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2007 edited
     (366.1)
    I am not sure what the implications are for the whole human race, but for me personally it means two things:
    1) I am a college student, and since the test was chimp vs. college student, I may have to up my studying habits, and
    2) I guess I'm going to have to find a new insult to replace "Troglodyte" when calling people stupid.
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      CommentAuthorARES
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2007
     (366.2)
    I thought I was smart when I was in college. Several years later I realize how wrong I was.
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      CommentAuthornexus
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2007
     (366.3)
    yeah, i thought i was smart until i became a science major...
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      CommentAuthorMark Seifert
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2007 edited
     (366.4)
    Yeah, interesting story, we talked a little bit about it previously.
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      CommentAuthornexus
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2007 edited
     (366.5)
    i just read the journal article. i thought it was particularly interesting for a few reasons. as it states very briefly at the tail end of the article linked above, this experiment provides still more information toward clarifying the extremely mirky language/intelligence conundrum facing the cognitive sciences. i think it also may have some indirect evolutionary implications as well, but i'm unclear as to what they are. it is good material for many more specific hypotheses, though, and that is always exciting. to clarify a seeming confusion from the other discussion, the experiment did demonstrate that the chimps had a better memory than the humans. the method was something of a more complicated version of the game "memory"; instead of images, the subjects had to remember numbers in a 1-9 series, and which pattern those numbers appeared on a touch-sensitive screen. let's just say those young chimps pretty much kicked the college students' asses at it.
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeDec 21st 2007 edited
     (366.6)
    Anyone who's ever had to grade undergrad papers knew this already.
    • CommentAuthorLyons
    • CommentTimeDec 21st 2007
     (366.7)
    But this study didn't evaluate intelligence, it evaluated memory, which is a different mental skill, yes?
  8.  (366.8)
    I know a guy who graduated top of his class in Civil Law, one of the most academically demanding courses here in Ireland. But he didn't know not to point the malfunctioning nail gun at his face while pulling the trigger while trying to figure out what was wrong with it.

    Soooo.... College Schmollege...
  9.  (366.9)
    I could beat up a monkey. Doesn't that count for something?

    I'll use my thumbs. They won't understand what hit them.

    Or I could eat one. I could eat a monkey.
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeDec 22nd 2007 edited
     (366.10)
    Monkeys are stronger than humans, plus they bite - and throw poop.
  11.  (366.11)
    (most) monkeys have opposable thumbs... and toes. Don't hedge your bets.

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