Week 6: Significance of Language & Tools in Chimps

Necessity is the mother of invention! And food for a hungry stomach - no matter what the species - is one heck of a motivator to figure out new and ingenious ways for getting the food out of where ever it is and into our mouths. Whether you are a human being, a rook or a chimp it makes no difference. Intelligence, communication and ingenuity are all hallmarks of being conscious...and all these species share that in common. It's just that we humans tend to be an arrogant lot, and if we don't see our personal traits and habits reflected in another, we tend to look down on them and think that they aren't as smart or thoughtful or communicative...we even have done this to other (so-called) 'primitive' human cultures, let alone the animals. But, that's just our projecting our own biases, limitations and judgements onto another species. And frequently, when we do this, we misunderstand what we do observe, because we lack the species-specific framework for understanding what we are seeing.

Of course all species have some form of communication between them, we humans may just not understand it, and therefore discount it. Similarly, to the extent that it's necessary, different beings will develop the tools they need to accomplish the tasks at hand...which for most, are primarily focused around food acquisition and eating...since that's what they spend the lion share of their time doing. And when you think that chimps and humans share a common evolutionary history, and we humans went on to develop language and tools, it stands to reason that our common ancestors the chimps would have done so as well. It's just common sense!