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Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
41–50 of 78 posts
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the researchers’ publication, they didn’t substantiate the claim that chimpanzees are doing engineering (actually they didn’t even define what engineering is or why it would be significant if the chimpanzees were doing it). They document some interesting tool-making behavior, that the chimpanzees are somewhat picky about the material properties of the sticks they use to catch ants.
am I taking crazy pills? the researchers' publication[1] is literally called: "Engineering skills in the manufacture of tools by wild chimpanzees" Literally "Engineering skills". The graphical abstract: https://www.cell.com/cms/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112158/asset/0e... > "Chimpanzees show a degree of engineering acumen in the selection of plant materials for toolmaking." > engineering acumen [1] https://www.cell.com/isc…
Just because it's in the title, doesn't mean the paper supports it.
I just skimmed the summary, but didn't notice any proof of "engineering". How do we know that chimpanzees weren't just selecting materials that had a good outcome in the past via trial and error? Or know that "more flexible=more food"? I would say that true engineering requires an inate understanding of the concepts going into the design, and I didn't notice anything in the summary to support that claim.
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#43fruits: lower, tastier, juicier. Choose two
Lower and tastier, thank you!
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#44Let me know when a chimp publishes in science daily. Bonus points if it’s written in feces.
Why do we always try to use human metrics to judge other species?
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#45[flagged]
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Chimpanzees record their goals in four domains aligned with company values as part of a mandatory HR exercise."
"Chimpanzees stare into mirror and mistake reflection for AGI. Chimp Altman says we just need to invest 7 trillion bananas into a bigger mirror."
"Student chimpanzee builds a tiny mirror for 6 bananas. It shows the same image."
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#47Up next, a story about how ants act as 'engineers' - choosing soft-enough-to-dig ground, that is not waterlogged, to build their nests. After that, maybe a story about plant 'engineers', growing toward the sun.
> A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the Jane Goodall Institute in Tanzania, the University of Algarve and the University of Porto in Portugal, and the University of Leipzig, so, i have a question; do you think the team of researchers above have no idea what they're doing? t…
I assume the researchers know perfectly well what they're doing...but "what they're doing" is much closer to "padding their publication counts" than it is to "making non-trivial scientific discoveries", or "responsible use of limited research funding". Anyone even slightly familiar with the arboreal habits of chimpanzees would realize that those alone would require them to have excellent judgement for the flexibility and strength of long, thin parts of plants. Otherwise, they'd often trust a too-weak branch, and be injured or killed in falls.
In a human world where the validity and value of science are sadly controversial, neither arguments from authority, nor 'how dare you cast doubt' objections, seem compatible with the long term well-being of science.
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Chimpanzee ticks unmet acceptance criteria and closes ticket, knowing those with power don’t care and those who care don’t have power.”
"Chimpanzee vocalizations found to be inversely proportional to productivity and directly proportional to time spent in meetings about lack of productivity"
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Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#49[deleted]
Re: Chimpanzees act as 'engineers', choosing materials to make tools
#50This is prior art. Everybody knows that engineers and chimpanzees share a lot of behavior patterns.