Re: Why Not a Planet Of The Apes?

Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Mon, 09 Jun 1997 19:42:14 -0700


Curt Adams writes:
> As an aside, the domesticated primate (us) is the smartest
> primate of all.

I see no evidence that any member of this list has been domesticated
in the sense in which nonhuman animals have occasionally been
domesticated by human animals. I rather doubt that the experience
of being domesticated is an intelligence-enhancing experience.

If you want to talk about "domesticated primates" and the various
social effects and ramifications this has, I recommend studying
the history of human slavery.

(Unless, that is, we take up Tony Csoka's excellent suggestion and
begin discussing the economics of labor compensation for
nonhuman primates... but that might become too speculative for any
of us to be able to enjoyably suspend disbelief anymore.)

--
Eric Watt Forste ++ arkuat@pobox.com ++ expectation foils perception -pcd