What if monkeys descended from us and not vice-versa. Devolution or evolution? It seems to be the case that millions of monkeys typing for millions of years would type zilch. Not even a normal sentence of 40 characters. Not even a grocery list. Sounds like the United Nations in a way, perhaps a modern day tower of babel. Some people, perhaps its supersition, perhaps grounded in religious doctrine, have the custom of not staring at a monkey or other members of that family. Its based on an understanding that the evil people behind the construction of the Tower of Babel were transformed into monkeys. There have been religious mystics who have lived in trees, but…
In that line of thought, monkeys are perceived as a kind of degraded form of homo-sapien who paid the price for participating or being complicit in the Tower’s construction. I guess it was a guys thing for the most part. The monkey, then, in its development is situated somewhere between animals and man, which would run counter to Darwin. The theological counterpoint to Darwin is that there are intermediate links between m plants and minerals such as corals, and between plant life and animal, and then between animals and humans there is a zone which is the monkey, and even between the Creator and his vast herd of humans there are a few even higher on the food chain. Where Darwin fits in is anyone’s guess.
In the Biblical telling of the Tower of Babel, God scattered the people across the earth, splitting them by a multitude of languages, and putting an end to the universal language. The dispersion was ostensibly to break that unity which had turned to evil, with different groups who received different destinies with some becoming subhuman shadows of their former selves or demons, elephants, and the ape family.
Perhaps this is why chimpanzees seem to hold such a resemblance to people, and also why they are so skilled at imitation. Some say its a manifestation of an innate wish to return to human form. The perception that many individuals have of a kinship with monkeys, may not be unfounded; the impression of looking into the eyes of men.
ADDENDUM:
The haven all memes depend on reaching is the human mind, but a human mind is itself an artifact created when memes restructure a human brain in order to make it a better habitat for memes. The avenues for entry and departure are modified to suit local conditions, and strengthened by various artificial devices that enhance fidelity and prolixity of replication: native Chinese minds differ dramatically from native French minds, and literate minds differ from illiterate minds. What memes provide in return to the organisms in which they reside is an incalculable store of advantages — with some Trojan horses thrown in for good measure. . . Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained Read More:http://rational-buddhism.blogspot.ca/2012/01/metameme.html
…The woman volunteer thought Nim was coming to hug her, but instead the young chimp lunged, biting so deep into her cheek that his fangs pierced her mouth.
As she clutched her bleeding face, the little ape was beside himself, using the same piece of sign language again and again to attract her attention. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ he repeated.
This haunting recollection is one of many contained in a riveting new film, Project Nim, by the director of the Oscar-winning Man On Wire, about one of the most bizarre scientific experiments of recent times….British film-maker James Marsh’s latest subject undertakes a journey every bit as astonishing as tightrope artist Philippe Petit’s walk on a wire strung between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Centre.
Nim was a chimp that was raised as a human child in order to test out the radical theory that man and his closest relative could learn to talk to each other.
Tragically, as Marsh’s film relates through a mixture of archive footage, re-enactments and interviews with those who took part in the early-Seventies experiment, this is a tale that ultimately says more about human arrogance than simian intelligence….
…But it was a disastrous decision — Stephanie never bothered trying to discipline Nim. She did not take any notes on the experiment and did not keep a log of Nim’s progress, but she did breastfeed him and give him alcohol and puffs on her cannabis joints.
He was encouraged to lay waste to their expensive home and wind up his rival for her affections, Stephanie’s husband. Home movie footage shows the little creature, a blur of black and white in his romper suit, charging around as Stephanie recounts dreamily how she let him explore her naked body as he moved into puberty.
‘I never felt sexually engaged with him,’ she recalls, which is a blessing at least. Yes, it certainly was the Seventies. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2018391/The-extraordinary-experiment-chimp-raised-human-child.html#ixzz20fTxkwxU