I Let My Fists Do The Talkin’

I found myself thinking about scientists who spend their lives teaching animals to talk, like Koko the Gorilla and the recently deceased Alex the Parrot. A lot of skeptics say the supposed teaching and logic on display that the researchers say is the breakthrough, is operant conditioning… rehearsed performances (usual name-check-dismissed with an eyeroll to “Hans the Wonder Horse“)

I found, through cross-references in Wikipedia, a current parrot subject who’s being taught through “conversational” methods. And just to throw some sand under the wheels of scientific legitimacy, Nkisi can not only speak and understand English… he’s psychic too.

Nkisi Speaks
I could listen to this for hours. Nkisi sounds like a teenaged girl from LaJolla.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Link Farming, Nerds.