For this our final blog of 2008-09, I've decided to resurrect an oldie but a goodie.
As you all know, I am no big fan of monkeys. However, this is a pretty interesting article on the research being done by a Yale economist testing the economic behavior of a group of Capuchin monkeys.
What do you think of his research?
monkeys are inherently evil, and they are smart enough to plan out their evil attacks. but when the driving force of human immorality is introduced (money) the monkeys' true evil side is shown. prostitution and robbery, some of the lowest crimes out there are now being committed by monkeys. I dont see the point of this research either, is he trying to teach monkeys to be our accountants? does he want to see if monkeys can learn how to use money? what will he gain from this information that will change mankind's view on monkeys? maybe we should give them guns next and see what they do with them.
ReplyDeleteThese experiments are quite the fascinating piece of information. I can see why Dr. Chen began this experiment, it all fits into the aggregate granola equation. It isn't surprising that monkeys have similar behavioral tendencies considering we have common ancestors with them (we didn't evolve from monkeys). I'm just curious as to why this research wasn't finished sooner.
ReplyDeleteWell first off, this is hilarious that once again I find myself talking about monkeys with you! These experiments proves to me that a monkey is one of the more intelligent animals around. Yes, they do have their mean spells but that has nothing to do with their learning abilities, which no one should take advantage of. The fact that monkeys are learning to be immoral, like humans, is insane. These are merely smart, innocent animals that are being taught the crimes of our society. To me, this could be seen as animal cruelty. Who knows what else they will try to teach them next.
ReplyDeleteI always knew monkeys were intellegent, but not intellegent enough to count money. I do not see why monkeys need to count our money, and this article seems kind of pointless to me. This research only shows how smart monkeys are and that they are capable of doing more than most people realize.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny the way the monkeys learned to steal and sell sex. It's never going to become an innate ability of monkeys. What I think the experiment does most is confirm two things: 1. that humans and monkeys are very similar psychologically 2.theories of rationalization and greed when it comes to money.
ReplyDeleteWho knew monkeys were so intelligent!! This makes me believe all the monkey stories i've heard! Goodness. I like Ross's comment about giving monkeys guns. Seriously what are they tryig to teach these monkeys? They will never be humans so why treat them like they are? Keep these animals in safe confined spaces. Like a zoo or something.
ReplyDeleteI think it's scary how closely the monkeys' behavior was to human behavior. I don't really understand the point of the article, maybe just to further prove how intelligent monkeys are? But I think we need to be careful with what we introduce animals to, you never know what may happen!
ReplyDeleteMonkeys being taught how to use money? This isn't promising. These tests will cause monkeys to become more powerful and therefore TAKE OVER THE WORLD. The testers said that these monkeys only care about food and sex, so why do they need to learn how to buy food? They will get it naturally like they always have. They don't need to buy food. Scientists don't need to teach monkeys to do things themselves because they don't need to. They can function just fine the way nature made them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the people below me...that monkeys should be kept alone. I believe the more we teach them the worse they are gonna get (crime-wise). Obama should put a ban on monkey intervention just like how Bush banned stem cell research.
ReplyDeleteMonkeys arent really intelligent in my book just instinctful. I feel that when a primate of any kind, even humans, are threatened by something they must go and do something to retaliate. All animals have this instinct of fight or flight. Monkeys just have more tools at their disposal so when they do go hostile they seem evil.
ReplyDeleteObviously this ability of monkeys to use money is the begining of the end of earth. monkeys will soon become economist and outsmart people and enslave them just like in planet of the apes. the ability of monkeys to use money also shows how easy economics really is. although they only learned a simple system, if monkeys can do it, people can to. now i have no ezxcuses for failing the final. as ross said, i hope to have a monkey accountant soon.
ReplyDeleteYou can't be mad at monkey's for their wild animal instincts. That's what people get for having a wild animal as a pet. Monkey have the capability to learn just like any other animal. Their research shows that they seem to be more advanced learners, yes but this doesn't mean their evil. :] These monkeys are being taught this actions by humans and believing that it's okay. I don't really think this is fair.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is fairly interesting. It's funny how close monkey behavior and human behavior is. I think this experiment should have been done sooner, to test intelligence levels of different animals.
ReplyDeleteOk people, monkeys are a smart species, but i doubt they are even remotely smart enough to count money and be able to use it as a currency. Evolution theories have shown that monkeys are very closely related to humans, but not so much that they can function like humans do. This article gave me a good laugh, and I suppose it was a good experiment to conduct because as far fetched as it may seem, someone at Yale with nothing better to do decided to put 2 and 2 together. Sadly, in this case, 2 and 2 did not equal 4. Perhaps it is better to just avoid monkeys altogether to avoid some sort of future monkey attack...
ReplyDeleteIt baffles me that, once again, Mr. Pye finds another way to talk about monkeys. Monkeys are obviously intelligent because they are the closest species to man, however, due to the many reoccuring monkey attacks, I do not think we should be training them to possibly become even smarter than we are. They seem to be doing a great job of interrupting human life already, let us not give them more ammunition.
ReplyDeleteI must say that this is a pretty awesome topic for the last blog of the year. But that being said, monkeys are super smart and experimenting further with what they can do could result in pretty interesting results. Although Mr. Pye doesn't like monkeys, I'm sure they could be helpful or be able to be put to some use later. That's probably a reason for the research in the first place. Monkeys have potential. :)
ReplyDeleteThis would've been much more fascinating if applied to John Nash's theory which completly made Adam's obsolete. Of course monkey's are smart and are out to take over the planet. However I will dispute Eric's claim that this fits into the granola aggregate equation. It is purely Klondike in nature. Nothing more.
ReplyDeleteI actually this these experiments are pretty intriguing. I like the fact that its a hands on approach to see an economy work instead of staring at graphs and charts and trying to comprehend them. It's pretty cool how the monkeys learn how to use actual currency as a means of exchange. I don't believe in evolution, but I do think that monkeys are very much like humans in the way they think in such complex manners. Look at all the other monkey stories about a monkey escaping its cage through an elaborate plan and another monkey chasing away observants by collecting ammunition of rocks and sticks. Its amazing how human-like monkeys are, and researching them is definitely worth the results they show.
ReplyDeleteAs with anyone with at least a grasp on evolutionary theory, it of course isnt surprising that they monkeys can be taught to act like humans and actually participate in economic activity. Not entirely sure what his research would prove to gain as far as advancing society/making our lives better or easier, but idunno, i kinda only read like halfway through before my mind wandered way.
ReplyDeleteWow, I love how similar monkeys always seem to be to humans when people conduct experiments on them. Next thing you know, monkeys will learn to conduct experiments of their own on like, rabbits in the wild or something... (Are there rabbits in the wild?)
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting research though. Yay for learning to buy sex! Ah, those bestial desires.
I had no idea that monkeys were that intelligent. It's actually pretty surprising. Monkeys are obviously capable of more than most people expected. Monkey and human behavior are actually more similar than people think.
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing monkeys will sell their bodies for a coin, and then purchase a grape. That must have been very surprising to observe. I do not think anyone would actually predict such a thing would occur. Still it if monkeys can learn to use money, what would happen if they went into the wild? This is a very strange occurrence. This must be very exciting for the economist.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Rodrguez
Monkeys have the ability to learn just like us, but it’s very primitive. This scares me because if we choose to trust an animal, where bound to get bit. The creates are fascinating to us humans because they have the ability to learn but we have to keep in mind that they are not as intelligent as us and they can, at any time, revert back to being an animal instead of a space chimp, money counter, ect.
ReplyDeleteI neverk now that monkeys are this smart. But I personally think that humans should just leave the them alone. You never know when they will attack you.I think this is a very interesting article.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not have any issues with monkeys, and it actually intrigues me to see this research being done on them. It has always been a curiosity of mine to see how similar monkeys and human beings are in behavioral tendencies so an experiment such as this does not seem to do anyone harm. The purpose of this seems to me to be just to fulfill scientific curiosity. But hey, if a few monkeys die in the process I am sure Pye won't shed any tears.
ReplyDeleteLol.....monkeys! Wow, ok Mr. Pye. This article didn't really depict the fact that monkeys can count money. They only taught the primates another way to get food. Monkeys are not about to take over the world Mr. Pye, I promise. I do find the data they gathered interesting though.
ReplyDeleteI find this piece of information quite interesting, but not supprising. It seems like monkey's are easily molded to think like humans. I still have trouble believing that the transactions made by monkeys are natural. However I am glad that we have discovered monkeys can count money. Mabey they will eventually take the jobs of bankers.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting and funny article. Monkeys are so smart. Based on evolution, humans evolved from monkeys so it's not strange to see a similarity between monkeys and humans. It's great to see how smart they are, but i don't think we should be making them part of any more experiments to prevent future attacks or possibly world domination by monkeys.
ReplyDeleteThis expieriment was very interesting. Who would have ever guessed that monkeys could learn how to use money to benefit themselves. Hopefully we will not be seeing monkeys buying their own groceries. I am watching The King of Queens and Doug just asked his wife Carrie if she bought him a monkey. Fortunatly she did not, so Mr. Pye you can stop worrying. I never want to see monkeys evolve and take over the world like in Planet of the Apes.
ReplyDeleteThis was kind of interesting. I don't think it means monkeys are as smart as humans though. They had to learn in pretty basic way how to use money, but only so they can feed their natural instincts for sex and food. I don't think this means monkeys are as smart as people, i think it proves that people are just as primitive as monkeys. I mean, what do people spend their time and money on? food and sex. just things that help them survive or make them happy.
ReplyDeleteOk this was a pretty stupid article. Yeah kind of entertaining and somewhat interesting, but come on, this Chen dude is wasting his time. Yes, monkeys, humans closest ancestors, have brains like ours. I could've told you that. They have reasoning skills and greed and logic just like us. So what. Leave them alone. All of this had to be taught to them. Why don't we just leave them alone. Encouraging monkey prostitution is the last thing we need to be doing right now.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of scary to me that monkeys have become intellegent enough to count money. I don't really understand the use of this experiment but I guess that's what you get when you have people with time on their hands. I thought it was pretty obvious how the experiment was going to turn out in the end. But whatever, now we all know how ridiculously smart monkeys can be. "Don't trust monkeys," as my favorite eco teacher used to always say. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that the monkeys are smart enough to make this guy look stupid by messing with him and "fixing" his tests. The monkeys probably have a secret organization called MAHH (Monkeys Against Human Habits)and are playing this guy silly. I do not know whether the test results are accurate or not seeing as these monkeys are not wild and do not have to think for themselves as much; ex. find food, shelter, survival of the fittest etc. Instead of thinking about surviving these monkeys are thinking about how to play with this "smart" guys mind!!!!!!!! I don't hate monkeys, but then again I have never met a monkey. But... I did hear/read somewhere that you can rent a baby monkey for a day??? People be crazyahhhhhhhhhh
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice article. Although the experiment can seem a little trivial and silly, it can bring about advances in both economics and psychology. Even those two subjects are obviously connected, I have never actually heard of a behavioral economist. I was quite surprised the monkeys could act in such a fashion, but I guess it makes sense seeing as humans and monkeys are so closely related. However, I don’t think its good that monkeys think they should sell their bodies for a grape.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's both interesting and scary how intelligent monkeys are, I think that's all the more reason to keep them confined and AWAY FROM HUMANS! They clearly haven't done any good so far, and the more you teach them, the more weapons you give them to hurt humans. That's all that ever happens.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is very unique and weird study. I just fear that if you start teaching monkeys certain human traits, what else might they naturally start to pick up. If the main goal of a research is just to test a curiosity, then it should be left alone. If there is no real benefit coming from the study then the scientist should stop giving Mr. Pye another reason to worry about monkies.
ReplyDeletethis is **** bananas B A N A N A S! ya man i think moneys will sooner or later be living among us and mister pye will be the resistance.....like in termanator. if you are listening to this you are the resistance, the monkeys are doing something i never expected they are taking humans and studying them. we must stop them your leader pye, it may go a little something like that.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't trust a monkey doing human things! If they are smart enough to do human things, then they are smart enough to pull some I AM LEGEND business and destroy the human race. Plus, Mr Pye, I dont understand why you are so afraid of monkeys... if we take a look at evolution, we are very closely related. Monkeys can be evil but people are too!
ReplyDeleteI find this experiment quite useless because we already know how intelligent monkeys are. I also do not see the need to even experiment money with monkeys because they have no use with money. Besides the pointless experiment, it was actually hilarious that monkeys can use money if they need to.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting article. I think teaching monkeys to use money is pointless. I mean, when are we going to see a monkey go into a store?Is this experiment really neccesary? the only time i can imagine a monkey in a store is if it somehow escaped from the zoo and all of a sudden wanted to purchase something at a convenience store.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting article. I think teaching monkeys to use money is pointless. I mean, when are we going to see a monkey go into a store?Is this experiment really neccesary? the only time i can imagine a monkey in a store is if it somehow escaped from the zoo and all of a sudden wanted to purchase something at a convenience store.
ReplyDeletethis was a pretty interesting story, but i dont understand how this experiment shows that monkeys in fact know how to use money wisely, i think its just because they were trained. i thought it was kinda funny how that one monkey traded sex for a token, even though they weren't really trained or told to do so. To say that they acted exactly like humans do in this situation is highly inaccurate to me, because humans know the importance of saving
ReplyDeleteWas Chen the only guy to see this? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the entire process unfold? In the middle of a scene of chaos? The monkeys weren't distracted by the possible money to be picked up on the ground around them? Yeah right.
ReplyDeletehmm...even though this was a pretty interesting article, i really don't see the benefit in teaching monkeys how to use money. yes, we know monkeys are intelligent enough to plan evil attacks on innocent people, but what they were taught about money was pretty basic. also, i'm not sure it's a good idea to teach the monkeys new things...they could end up using their intelligence for even more evil things. there's enough fear in the world already, and we shouldn't add to that with freakishly smart monkey prostitues.
ReplyDeleteSo... why exactly are they teaching monkeys to use money? How is this going to benefit anyone? The article was kind of interesting I guess, but I really don't see the point of the whole experiment. Unless we're going to invite monkeys to join our society and buy things at our stores, I don't know why we should be teaching them to use money.
ReplyDeleteMonkeys are bad for your health... one day the monkeys will evolve even further and learn to do things such as humans do... MONKEYS WILL RULE THE WORLD... WE NEED TO EXTERMINATE THEM ALL... first they learn prostitution and the lowly criminal acts, next they go to high crime... ONE DAY A MONKEY MAY HAVE A HIT ON YOU?!?!
ReplyDeleteI think this expariment is very dumb u are going to give monkeys money! thats cerazy really crazy i thin people are going to rleay thinks this is boring and they monkeys cant ubdersatnd that the fact.
ReplyDeleteCOnsumerism is all a psychoanalytical game based upon basic mental feedback simulations and basic cathexis for capitalistic action - whatever is ascribed to a self-contrived, self-sustained self-interest(good weighed out against bad). Thus, everything is based on a marginal utility scheme, under terms of cooperation, which further relates to microeconomic schemes and as a larger notion: referred to as Game Theory; John Nash.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the comments above me. It seems wild that someone would even consider such a wild experiment. Its just funny that this experiment was even concocted
ReplyDeleteThis experiment was quite interesting. It just shows how similar monkeys are to humans. The notion of monkeys counting money is senseless to me. It baffles me why there are so many unemployed workers in this country and we would hire monkeys for this job.
ReplyDeleteKenny Hoyt said...
ReplyDeleteAlright, so a monkey can learn. Not impressed. Anyhow Monkeys are evil and should probably be executed. But that might be a little extreme. Why are monkeys such punks? They just attack people and frankly that’s rude. No one likes monkeys and Mr. Pye you are right in your fear and hatred of these monsters.
Monkeys simply can't be educated in the ways of economics. What would Adam Smith say? Monkeys remind us of the evils of our base moralities and our savage and aggressive origins. If we teach monkeys how to use money, we would simply be pushing the world's economies further down the spiral of recession, as those joking and uninformed view of the subject would tear apart the value of currency. There is no possible way to change the way monkeys are, which is inherently immoral and debasing.
ReplyDeleteI think this article was a planet of the apes knock off... I think he lies, we all know monkeys are the spawns of satan, there is no way on earth that they could learn the simple rules of something as complex as economics. And i agree eric, this is high up on the aggregate granola line, as it shifted to the right from pure awesomeness, while the klondike line is decreasing slowly.
ReplyDeletemonkeys cannot learn the complexities of economics. They are inherently evil and i dont believe that they were turned evil. This contradicts everything the granola movement stands for.
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