Koko didn't speak too well

[Mapraputa Is]

This entry tells a story about a gorilla who somehow communicated that she had a teeth pain. The linguists' verdict was she couldn't output a decent sentence in ASL (American Sign Language). Now I *do* realize it wasn't the point of the entry, but here is a broader question.

How much compassion do we feel to somebody who cannot communicate?

Some days ago I found a spider in my sink, and I felt it would be extremely cruel to let him/her sink. So I put some paper so he/she could crawl out of all this... Maybe I need to visit a shrink.

"This is how it is with insomnia. Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy of a copy."
Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club

[Helen Thomas]

In severe tooth pain normal people have difficulty conforming to standard ASL.
It's a bit unfair to expect more of Koko. Luckily Koko didn't visit a dentist that damaged her/his brain. Always a risk these days.

[Arjun Shastry]

How many ranchers have never been to dentist?
I went first time in 1990 then 1992,1997 and now 2004(thrice).

[Helen Thomas]

"She's quite articulate," volunteer Johnpaul Slater said. "She'll tell us how bad she's feeling, how bad the pain is. It looked like it was time to do something."

They crowded around her, and Koko, who plays favorites, asked one woman wearing red to come closer. The woman handed her a business card, which Koko promptly ate.

[R K Singh]

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:

Some days ago I found a spider in my sink, and I felt it would be extremely cruel to let him/her sink. So I put some paper so he/she could crawl out of all this...

There is a story of a King, spider and minister.

Once a King saw a fly in the spider-web. She(fly) was trying to come out of web as spider was approaching to her.
King thought of rescue the fly, the moment he tried to do so his minister stop him.
King asked the reason for it, minister replied that if you let fly fly then spider might die of hunger.

So moral of story is that dont interfere in the nature.

How much compassion do we feel to somebody who cannot communicate
Question is very complicated. On first hand, how can we know that he needs attention, if he can not communicate ??

Suppose he gets the attention then how do we know that we know the right cause for his pain.

Why you want to talk about Koko, why dont you talk about a 6 month child, who has itching on his back and the only way his communicate is CRY.
But his mom is thinking that its stomachache

[fred rosenberger]

Koko probably speaks ASL much better than anyone here speaks Gorilla...

how much compassion for someone who can't communicate?

I would have a very hard time communicating with someone who only spoke Chinese (for example), but i could feel a lot of compassion for them.

[Sahir Shah]

Originally posted by Helen Thomas:

The woman handed her a business card, which Koko promptly ate.

Try that at your next business meeting. May help to break the ice. Just watch out for difficult varieties of business cards viz. laminated , metal based etc.

[John Dunn]

Map you should rent the movie: "My Left Foot" starring Daniel Day Lewis
Really will make you wonder how much guilt you should have for not having compassion for someone who can't communicate.

[Richard Hawkes]

Originally posted by R K Singh:
There is a story of a King, spider and minister...
...So moral of story is that dont interfere in the nature.

Good point, I'm trashing my sink.

[Joe King]

Originally posted by R K Singh:

So moral of story is that dont interfere in the nature.

But we are a part of nature! If a cow makes milk it is called natural, but if a human makes coke it is called "un-natural". When does the "natural" factor stop? Is it because it was made rather than secreted? In that case is it un-natural when some gorillas use tools to extract termites from their mounds? Are termite mounds un-natural because they are constructions? Is honey unnatural because the bees have made an un-natural structure to collect it in?

The whole natural/un-natural division seems to stem from the idea that humans are not animals, and not a part of nature. Its almost as if people think that anything we do is seen to not "fit in" with the rest of the world, because we are so different. For me, the only main difference between us and the other animals is not our intelligence, but our capacity to find things funny. Apart from that, we're not much more than a peculiar kind of monkey.
[ August 12, 2004: Message edited by: Joe King ]

[Steven Hoodless]

For me, the only main difference between us and the other animals is not our intelligence, but our capacity to find things funny.

[ August 12, 2004: Message edited by: Steven Hoodless ]

[Ko Ko Naing]

It's not me! It's not me! How come we got exactly the same name... But I got a space between Ko and Ko...

[basha khan]

For me, the only main difference between us and the other animals is not our intelligence, but our capacity to find things funny.

For me, the only main difference between us and the other animals is not our intelligence,But every humen is born with a quest in with him/her.The quest to find the truth.Animals dont have that "problom".Nor they have priests.

So there is a need of "truth" for every humen.So there is a demand.So there is an imbalance in supply-demand.In most supply-demand imbalance,still 90% "Providers" are assholes.Just look the book industry,90% books are just craps by pure assholes.

---
basha
[ August 13, 2004: Message edited by: basha khan ]

[R K Singh]

Originally posted by basha khan:
The quest to find the truth.Animals dont have that "problom".Nor they have priests.

who knows they born with knowledge of all truths and thats why they dont have quest to find the truth. :roll:

[basha khan]

Originally posted by R K Singh:


who knows they born with knowledge of all truths and thats why they dont have quest to find the truth. :roll:

That's a possiblity.

Knowledge = Freedom
Animals = Free/Enjoys maximum freedom
Animals = Knowledge

---
basha

[Bacon]

For some of us it is a matter of theology. Some (myself included) believe humans are spiritually different than animals. Others believe that humans are highly developed animals. Evolutionists hold this view. It is as much faith as any "traditional" religions.

[R K Singh]

Originally posted by Ray Marsh:
Some (myself included) believe humans are spiritually different than animals.

Can you please elaborate this ?? :roll:

[Bacon]

It is that belief that we (humans) were created in God's image, and animals were not.