No that’s not Dr. Shanker! Its Kanzi, the famous bonobo that is mentioned in The First Idea (Brain Science Podcast #6). I didn’t have time to talk about the bonobo research during last week’s podcast, but today I recorded a very interesting interview with Dr. Stuart Shanker, co-author of The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved From Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans.
This episode will be available on March 8th. I plan to include lots of links and references.In the meantime, thanks for all the email feedback. I have actually gotten requests to make the podcast longer, but it will probably stay in the 20-35 minute range. I wish I could put it out every week, but my other podcast, Books and Ideas, comes out on the alternate weeks. I hope you will check it out. This week I ventured into a new area, politics, which I usually try to avoid.
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Great interview, thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve come across Kanzi et al in Scientific American. I can understand how some people would find it disconcerting to have another species communicating with us so effectively!
Hmmm, I don’t know. I wish I could communicate like that with my dogs!
Yes, so do I! Mind our old Springer spaniel is pretty good at getting what she wants!! My son has said several times recently that he wished our dog could talk, and I said ‘You might not like what she had to say.’ To which he replied with the supreme confidence of youth, ‘ Yes I would, she’s always loved me.’
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