Prompt Cast
The Fascinating Life of Koko the Gorilla and the Controversies Surrounding Ape Language Research
TLDR Koko the gorilla, who was taught sign language, had a working vocabulary of 600 signs and could understand 2000 words of English. The ape language research field has faced debates over the validity of the experiments and ethical concerns, leading to a shift towards studying how gorillas communicate with each other.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
This episode is about Koko, the gorilla who was born in 1971 and was initially raised by humans after a difficult infancy, leading to concerns about her reintegration into her family unit.
06:12
A Stanford grad student named Francine Penny Patterson entered Koko's life and took control of her care, teaching her sign language in order to study how gorillas acquire language and compare it to how humans do.
11:39
Koko, the gorilla, was able to acquire sign language at a rate similar to that of a deaf human child and had a working vocabulary of about 600 signs, could understand 2000 words of English, and even had her own vocabulary of insults.
18:24
In 1976, the gorilla foundation expanded and brought in a male gorilla named Michael who also learned American Sign Language and communicated with Coco through sign language, teaching each other signs that the humans hadn't taught them.
23:49
Coco, the gorilla who had been taught the word "cat" and loved cats, was given a stuffed kitten before eventually getting a real kitten named All Ball, who unfortunately died after being hit by a car.
30:29
Koko the gorilla had several celebrity visitors, including Mr. Rogers, Flea, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Betty White, Leo DiCaprio, and Robin Williams, who had a particularly memorable visit where they played and interacted with each other.
36:34
In 1998, Koko the gorilla participated in the first ever interspecies internet chat hosted by America Online, where her responses were translated by Dr. Patterson, leading some to believe that the Project Koko was largely fabricated.
42:32
The ape language wars involved a debate between scientists who believed that Koko the gorilla was highly intelligent and able to communicate using sign language, and those who believed that the experiments were not valid and Koko was simply performing for rewards.
48:15
The head of Project NIM, Herb Terrace, believed that the apes were not truly communicating and understanding sign language, but were instead just imitating people to get food treats, leading to a division in the ape language research field.
53:56
Some scientists and researchers in the field of ape language research believed that apes can use language, but that we just haven't figured out how to demonstrate it sufficiently.
01:00:02
The scientific community acknowledges that ape language research has shown that apes are capable of using sign language and communicating on a human level, but this type of research has largely dried up since the 80s due to ethical concerns.
01:05:51
Apes have been shown to have a theory of mind and the field of ape language research is still developing, with a shift towards studying how gorillas communicate with each other rather than teaching them human language; however, controversies surrounding the Gorilla Foundation, including a lawsuit over inappropriate behavior, have also arisen.
Categories:
Society & Culture
