X-Message-Number: 4219
Date: 16 Apr 95 16:03:31 EDT
From: Jim Davidson <>
Subject: Lower animals

Humans have taught several species of apes to speak using sign language and
other methods.  I accept the premise that these animals speak because of the

video footage I have seen of one gorilla teaching her child to sign, independent

of any presence by researchers.  That the concept of language for these gorillas
originated with humans is obvious; the value of the concept is such that it is
now being passed on from one generation of gorilla to the next.

The question came up whether "lower animals" feel.  My understanding of the
various papers on language experiments with animals is that they do feel, and

express their feelings frequently.  They describe wants, needs, fears, pain, and

other emotional states.  Various behaviors in addition to language indicate they
are self-aware, interested in learning, able to make and use tools, and in many
ways possessed of brain structures with purposes akin to many of the brain
structures in humans.

One of the most interesting experiments in suspended animation research that I
can conceive would be to train an ape (gorilla, chimp, orangutan) sign language
or one of the computer-symbol languages developed for animal language research,
and then suspend that animal.  Lower its temperature to whatever level we can
reach and still resuscitate, then see if there is any measurable difference in
its languaging ability.

Of course, there are some major obstacles to conducting such and experiment. 1)
Apes are very expensive lab animals.  2) Time to train them to language is very
long.  3) Language researchers get very attached to the animals, so there will
be resistance to the actual suspension procedure.

However, overcoming these obstacles seems quite worthwhile.  Apes have the
closest brain structures to humans.  Language skill is a very readily measured,
higher order brain function.  (Vocabulary, comprehension, grammatic skill, etc.
are readily measured.)  Most important, animals are not as important as people.

We will no doubt have increasing difficulty conducting scientific experiments on
animal subjects, but we will always have greater difficulty conducting such
studies on humans (I hope).

Jim


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