Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Missing the point as usual
"Science" news:
Chimpanzees not only love their sweet potatoes roasted and hot, they also have the brainpower needed to cook food, new research has found. The findings suggest that cooking abilities emerged early in human evolution, and that aside from control of fire, chimps may possess all the requisite cognitive skills to engage in cooking.Well, we already know that cooking was associated with pretty much all human remains, no matter how old. And we know that chimps can be taught to do most human tasks. We also know that chimps enjoy everything humans enjoy, from junk food to cigarettes to whiskey. The one thing that's still mysterious: Why did humans go ahead and develop all of these skills? Cooking, language, preparing and storing crops, aging and smoking tobacco, distilling whiskey? It's not simply a drive to experiment or a need to communicate. Other mammals and birds often try different ways of doing a task, develop the best one, and pass it on to later generations. There's an extra step that seems to be hard to pin down, an extra layer of experiment or an extra perspective or viewpoint. An ability to imagine a new task or a new experience. Not just "How do I crack the walnut most efficiently?" but "Hmm. What happens if I try this?" It's the Hmm that makes us human. ¶ 1:53 AM
