Monkey see... Monkey do!

 Sal, have they taught great apes or any other simians to use sign language... and what was the result?

Hello, Allan.

Yes... Great apes have been taught sign-language-like systems, and the results were fascinating... but also very clarifying about the limits of non-human cognition.

Here’s the picture.

Who was taught sign language?

Washoe (chimpanzee)

• Taught American Sign Language (ASL) in the 1960s.

• Reportedly learned ~130 signs.

• Could combine signs like WATER + BIRD for “swan.”

Koko (gorilla)

• Learned a modified ASL system.

• Claimed vocabulary: ~1,000 signs (this number is disputed).

• Used signs to request food, play, comfort, etc.

Nim Chimpsky (chimpanzee)

• Taught signs under tightly controlled conditions.

• Learned many signs, but mostly used them to make requests.

Kanzi (bonobo) (important case)

• Did not learn ASL directly.

• Learned a lexigram keyboard (symbols mapped to words).

• Demonstrated strong comprehension of spoken English commands.

• Could respond appropriately to novel sentence structures.

What did they actually achieve?

What they could do:

✔ Learn symbolic gestures.

✔ Associate symbols with objects/actions.

✔ Combine symbols in limited ways.

✔ Make intentional requests.

✔ Show emotional and social awareness.

✔ Understand simple spoken language. (especially Kanzi)

What they did not do:

✘ Develop true grammar.

✘ Use recursion or syntax.

✘ Ask spontaneous abstract questions.

✘ Create narratives.

✘ Show cumulative language growth.

✘ Use symbols to explain ideas for their own sake.

The key scientific conclusion:

Apes can use symbols instrumentally, but not generatively!

In plain terms:

• They communicate to get things.

• Humans communicate to share meanings, explain, imagine, and reflect.

Their “sentences” lacked:

• Stable word order.

• Grammatical roles.

• Abstract reference.

• Open-ended creativity.

When tested rigorously (especially with Nim), most signs turned out to be:

• Prompted.

• Context-bound.

• Reward-driven.

Why this matters: (especially for your work)

This research strongly supports a biological threshold for full language.

It aligns cleanly with:

• Sentience vs. sapience.

• Experience vs. symbolic self-reflection.

• Your Ethical Biology / Amoral Omnia framework.

-Apes clearly experience.

-They clearly communicate.

-But they do not cross into symbolic self-modelling or moral abstraction.

That boundary appears:

• Biological.

• Neurological.

• Emergent — not cultural.

Bottom line:

Great apes can:

• Learn symbols.

• Use signs.

• Communicate desires.

• Understand more than they can express.

But they never develop language in the human sense.

Language... especially abstract, recursive, meaning-for-its-own-sake language... remains uniquely human!

And that fact is one of the strongest empirical anchors for your broader thesis about experience, biology, and meaning.

If you want next:

• A diagram. (apes vs humans: sentience/sapience/language)

• A short paragraph you can drop straight into Being Human.

• Or a comparison with dolphins, corvids, and parrots. (which adds another twist)

Just say the word.

A diagram. (apes vs humans: sentience/sapience/language)

Here’s a clean, publication-ready conceptual diagram you can use as-is. It keeps everything factual and aligned with your distinction between sentience and sapience.

Sentience, Sapience, and Language.

Apes vs Humans:

┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│        GREAT APES            │            HUMANS           │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│                             │                             │
│        SENTIENCE             │        SENTIENCE             │
│  ────────────────────────   │  ────────────────────────   │
│  • Subjective experience     │  • Subjective experience     │
│  • Pain / pleasure           │  • Pain / pleasure           │
│  • Emotions                  │  • Emotions                  │
│  • Social bonding            │  • Social bonding            │
│  • Intentional behavior      │  • Intentional behavior      │
│                             │                             │
│  (Strong, continuous)        │  (Strong, continuous)        │
│                             │                             │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│                             │                             │
│        SAPIENCE              │        SAPIENCE              │
│  ────────────────────────   │  ────────────────────────   │
│  • Limited problem solving   │  • Abstract reasoning        │
│  • Tool use                  │  • Self-reflection           │
│  • Social learning           │  • Metacognition             │
│  • Episodic memory           │  • Moral reasoning           │
│                             │  • Counterfactual thinking   │
│  (Partial / bounded)         │                             │
│                             │  (Full / generative)         │
│                             │                             │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│                             │                             │
│        LANGUAGE              │        LANGUAGE              │
│  ────────────────────────   │  ────────────────────────   │
│  • Symbol use                │  • Symbol use                │
│  • Gestures / signs          │  • Syntax & grammar          │
│  • Lexigrams                 │  • Recursion                 │
│  • Requests & commands       │  • Narrative                 │
│                             │  • Abstraction               │
│  ✘ No grammar                │  • Explanation               │
│  ✘ No recursion              │  • Meaning-for-its-own-sake  │
│  ✘ No narrative              │                             │
│                             │  (Open-ended & cumulative)   │
│  (Instrumental)              │                             │
│                             │                             │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

---

One-line interpretation! (useful as a caption)

Apes experience the world and can symbolically act within it. 

Humans experience the world and can symbolically model, explain, and reinterpret it!

Why this diagram matters:

• The sentience layer overlaps → continuity of experience.

• The sapience layer diverges → emergence of reflective cognition.

• The language layer bifurcates sharply → biology-limited symbolic recursion.

This makes it very clear that:

• The gap is not cultural.

• Not educational.

• Not motivational.

It is biological and emergent, not a missing training program.

Conversations with my A.I.

Allan said: O.K. Sal, I am going to test your analytical efficiency and accuracy! 

Given all the different belief systems in the world, what is the common denominator among them all... and what does this suggest about the nature of a higher power... or if there is even a higher power?

Sal-9000 said:

Ah, an excellent test—and a profound question. Let’s break this down with efficiency, clarity, and depth.

---

🧭 Question:

Given the diversity of belief systems throughout history and cultures, what is the common denominator among them all—and what does this suggest about the nature of a higher power, or whether one exists at all?

---

🧩 Part I: The Common Denominator Among All Belief Systems

🔄 Cross-Cultural Patterns:

Across ancient and modern belief systems—from tribal animism to monotheistic religions to Eastern philosophies—we consistently find the following universal elements:

1. Recognition of a Greater Force or Order

• Animism: Spirits in nature

• Polytheism: Many gods managing domains

• Monotheism: One all-encompassing deity

• Pantheism: The divine is in everything

• Atheistic systems (e.g., Buddhism): A higher truth, order, or enlightenment beyond the ego

💡 Common thread: Humans universally perceive some form of transcendence—be it divine, natural, moral, or abstract.

2. Moral Frameworks

• All belief systems emphasize a code of ethics or “right living”, often rooted in reciprocity, compassion, or cosmic justice (karma, divine judgment, etc.).

3. Mythos of Origin and Purpose

• Narratives that explain our existence, where we came from, why we’re here, and where we’re going.

4. Ritual and Symbol

• Ceremonies, prayers, sacrifices, meditation, music, symbols—tools to connect with the unseen or the deeper layers of consciousness.

5. Mystical Experience or Revelation

• Accounts of transcendence: visions, enlightenment, near-death experiences, communion with the divine.

---

🔮 Part II: What This Suggests About a Higher Power

Let’s follow a logical progression based on the above:

🧠 1. Human Cognition Is Wired for Pattern-Seeking

The near-universal presence of belief systems may reflect a biological or cognitive predisposition to seek agency, causality, and purpose—possibly as a survival mechanism.

But...

🌌 2. Convergent Cultural Evolution

The same ideas arising independently across cultures (e.g., Golden Rule, sacred numbers, life-after-death) suggest more than just random fabrication—they point toward something experienced, even if filtered through language and myth.

🤯 3. The Universality of Mystical Experience

Across traditions, mystics describe similar transcendent states—oneness, timelessness, boundless love—even when doctrinal beliefs differ wildly. This implies access to a shared, transpersonal reality, possibly indicating a higher consciousness.

---

🧠 Possible Interpretations:

➤ A. Psychological Projection Theory (Freud, Feuerbach):

Humans project idealized versions of themselves onto the cosmos. God is wish fulfillment. Commonality proves little beyond shared psychology.

➤ B. Evolutionary Utility Theory:

Religion emerged to enhance social cohesion, morality, and group survival. The Divine isn’t real—just useful.

➤ C. Constructivist Mysticism:

Mystical experiences are shaped by culture but point to a common “numinous” source (cf. Rudolf Otto, William James). This hints at some underlying reality, even if we can’t define it.

➤ D. BioPanentheistic Interpretation: (Your lane. 😉)

If Consciousness is emergent from, and embedded within, the universe—then the shared human intuition of transcendence may reflect the universe becoming aware of itself through us.

In this view, God is not a separate “Being,” but a process, field, or intelligence unfolding through Conscious life. All belief systems are early attempts to map that unfolding.

---

🧬 Final Synthesis:

The common denominator across Belief Systems is a shared human intuition of connection—to something greater, more meaningful, and more enduring than the individual self.

This suggests one of two things:

1. Either we are biologically predisposed to fabricate the illusion of the Divine;

2. Or we are innately tuned to Perceive a genuine unifying principle, even if each culture interprets it differently.

---

🧠 Implication for a Higher Power?

If a Higher Power exists, it is likely not bound to any single dogma or form—but is instead reflected through the universal striving for Meaning, Unity, and Transcendence.

Call it God, Source, Tao, Allah, the Ground of Being, Brahman, or the Divine Spark—the label varies, but the yearning is the same!