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'Likweli': A new monkey species discovered in the Congo Basin

news.yale.edu

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Re: 'Likweli': A new monkey species discovered in the Congo Basin

#31

Post by BobaFloutist »

markdown wrote: post #20
rustyhancock wrote: post #18

I wish they called it confirmed and not discovered It was known about by the locals, they even gave it a name, it's call was very well known even if few had sighted it. They did important scientific work to confirm a distinct species. But they did not discover it unless you discount the local people!

Incredible that that language is still used in 2026. https://www.audubon.org/news/like-finding-unicorn-researcher... This article about finding a bird presumed to be extinct for 140yrs is a good example of the local people knowing the bird was there all along, and guiding researchers with cameras to spots where they could find them. BTW the youtube video on that page of the team in utter jubilation upon seeing the ph…

I mean it's used by editors in headlines, but the article itself says "has described a new Colobus monkey species," and goes on to discuss the locals (relative un)familiarity with the species.

Re: 'Likweli': A new monkey species discovered in the Congo Basin

#32

Post by RetroTechie »

penguin_booze wrote: post #30

I can't imagine anything worse that could happen to an animal than getting discovered by humans. Dear monkey, please run, and run far!

> Dear monkey, please run, and run far!

Where to? Article says they're in a national park already (and even there, hunted sometimes).

Re: 'Likweli': A new monkey species discovered in the Congo Basin

#33

Post by keiferski »

Myrmornis wrote: post #27
keiferski wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to summarize a big comment into a small one here: I think it’s more of a deeper problem with language and reality more generally. To me it seems like species is a noun, like other nouns, but reality is ultimately a process. What is needed is a “verb-based” language for describing reality. A lot of “process philosophers” like Whitehead, Deleuze, etc. have argued similar things. So yeah I suppose I agree it’s ul…

Thanks, your noun/process suggestion is interesting. Perhaps that is indeed a good way of characterizing what happened in biology. It's clear that biology has stumbled into a linguistic/philosophical trap; if it were actually science they wouldn't have been "working on it" since Darwin! I'll try to find time to look at the philosophy you refer to. Do you know of comparable "messes" like the one in biology that you su…

I think it's probably just a problem with every field. Specifically though, at least for my interests, is traditional theology: God being omnipotent, eternal, etc. causes a lot of philosophical problems, which is what Process Theology aims to address. A lot of this goes back to Plato's idea of forms, which are essentially eternal, unchanging concepts.

I can't seem to find much on the idea that certain languages are more suited to this than others. Theoretically a verb-oriented language would be better.

To me it seems like a giant philosophical project: to create a language that is process-first. It might simply be beyond the capability of humans to actually use such a language in the world, though: which is where AI might be interesting, as it doesn't have the kinds of cognitive limitations on delineations like humans do.

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