Lab Chimps Released

In recent posts, I've talked about primate tool use and primate self-reflection.

I'm very interested in the nature of animal consciousness & communication, because I think it informs the fundamental nature of our own experience.

I think humanity is becoming more empathetic as a whole, because other living things are being recognized as sentient minds.

The Monkey Buddha

Non-Human Rights

This video speaks for itself, and needs no philosophical debate. It shows chimpanzees from research laboratories, who were locked in cages for 30 years, being released into a sanctuary. 

I can't see how a person with any empathy couldn't look at these chimps & recognize the experience they must be having when setting foot outside for the first time in decades.

Ape Making Fire

On fUSION Anomalog, I saw a sequence of animated GIFs that show an ape using matches to light a fire & roast marshmallows.

This is one of the many examples that demonstrate tool use among animals, especially primates. The perceived gap between human beings and other creatures is not as wide as traditionally believed. Primates, in particular, have most of the same senses & perceptions that people do. It's just a matter of degree when it comes to our respective cognitive abilities.

The Monkey Buddha Archives:

Primate Tool Use

The bonobo's name is Kanzi, and here is more info about ape intelligence & communication.

Smithsonian:

Speaking Bonobo

Here is a video showing Kanzi lighting the campfire.

I recently read a book about baboon communication & social hierarchies that was interesting. It was another reminder how close we humans are to animal behavior in so many ways.

The Monkey Buddha Archives:

 Monkey Talks

Atlantic City Car Show 2010

Last weekend, I went with Big Paul and my brothers to the car show at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

I've gone there with my Dad for the past several years & it was nice for all the Micarelli dudes to make it again.

The photos I took of the cool (and not-so-cool) cars are in my Google Picasa album:

Atlantic City Carshow
2-28-10

• Cool Car:




• Not-So-Cool Car:


• The Monkey Buddha & a fellow primate:

American Idiots

This video would be depressing if it weren't so funny. Probably my favorite comment was from the old guy who claimed that "Al Qaeda is a wing of the Masonic Order."

This guy pictured below had another great line which illustrates why people can't even understand the Middle East situation, no less figure out a solution:

click to watch

"Ok, I'm a little mixed up
over the Palestinians and the Israelis...
which one's throwin' the rocks?"

It's amazing how little of an understanding some people have of the world we live in. I'm not going to be a hater and say all Americans are stupid, since I'm an American and consider myself very wise for a mere mortal primate.

I will say that the myth of American Superiority in ALL Things is very exaggerated almost to the point of national delusion. Especially under the administrations of criminals and fools like 'Saint' Reagan and Bush, Inc., our country's infrastructure & democratic ideals have been continually eroded to the point we are now, teetering on the edge of catastrophe. Instead of an prosperous & noble power, our country is becoming a stumbling, crooked monster.

There are plenty of 33 percenters featured, who are morons based soley on the fact that they respect & trust the Criminally Insane War Monkey.

'Chimp Skull Extraction' by Paul Jackson

I saw a gallery of cool ink drawings, including this image of the nesting parts of a chimp's head- the face, skull, and brain.

The artist is Paul Jackson and the title is 'Chimp Skull Extraction'. Here's a straight-on view.

When looking up his website, I just realized that I've posted a piece of Paul Jackson's primate-related artwork before:

The Monkey Buddha Archives:

'Space Ape' Art Print

Primate Tool Use

On Graham Hancock's site I saw another news item that reminded me of the evolutionary jump presented by "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Although we consider the use of tools to be a main difference between human beings and other life, there are many animals that have learned to use tools for specific tasks.

New Scientist:

Bonobos Use a Range of Tools Like Stone-age Humans

 Although they are certainly not building particle accelerators or spacecraft, clearly other primates have the ability to intelligently manipulate their environment to achieve predetermined goals.

In fact, chimps have even been able to recognize dangerous human technology, in the form of snares, and sabotage them.

BBC:

Wild Chimps Outwit Human Hunters 

Regardless of the capacity that other life can use tools, it is clear that technology defines us as human almost as much as any other factor.

  Artificial Ape Man: How Technology Created Humans

Beppo - Superman's Monkey

On Neatorama there was a post about Superman's Kryptonian chimp, Beppo, who I would think would be a horrifying menace to the general population.

Actually- according to their post,
"Because it’s from Krypton, Beppo the monkey had super powers … that it used for mischief! Superboy had to lead the super monkey into deep space and left him there."

Man, that's pretty messed up! What's even more messed up is that once in deep space, Beppo found Curious George in Space... and showed him that despite the vast reaches of the universe, there's only room for one Space Monkey.

I took a few minutes to re-create the grisly encounter as accurately as I could:


Anyway, this cover is so great & shows exactly what a pain-in-the-ass a Super-powered monkey would be...


DC Comics' store actually has a plush version of this super-powered primate.

The doll's cuteness betrays the actual horror Beppo has the potential to release upon mankind.

Monkeys & Mortality

There are many things I enjoy in life, but bizarre creations & monkey pictures always make my day.

I saw the masterpiece below on the Tumblr blog JUST_MONK3Y.
A pensive ape, wearing a fez hat with the the all-seeing eye, is holding a human skull.

Using the mind-boggling power of Google Images & Search ("ape+fez+skull"), I just took 30 seconds & tracked down the creator of this superb image, Jean Labourdette. The title of the work only adds to its awesomeness:

"The Artist's Unconscious Mind (Self-portrait)"

by Jean Labourdette

Perhaps the ponderous primate is wondering about the nature of the process we call consciousness that experiences our mortal existence...

Perhaps he is thinking about bananas...


Also on that blog, I saw this funny vintage print of a cheeky monkey trying to make moves on a human circus lady.

I looked up the artist, E. Gayac, but there's not much info other than that he was a Spanish postcard artist.

Ape Agape

I recently came across a couple psychedelic simian images on the Shamanic Sacra-Mental Spaces blog that I thought were pretty awesome.

The first one is "Stoned Ape Theory" by Tim Marr. It illustrates the theory espoused by Terence McKenna (whom I've posted about a lot here) that our primate ancestors had an evolutionary boost from eating psilocybin mushrooms that was a factor in accelerated cognitive development.

The second "Ape Agape" image is by Samuel Farrand, and would be the next step after the previous picture! After ingesting a psychedelic compound, the ape's experience transforms into a energetic mindscape of abstract patterns.

This image reminded me of the 3D image I created called "Psychedelic Symbiosis", which drew a comparison between the structure of neural and mycelial connections.

"Psychedelic Symbiosis"

by Paul Micarelli

"Space Ape" Art Print

On OMG Posters! I saw this awesome image of an astro-primate by Paul Jackson & had to post it.

When I first started this blog waaay back in 2005, (during The Bush Dark Ages) the other name choice I considered for it was 'Space Ape'. It stemmed from the recognition that we humans are basically hairless monkeys who learned how to temporarily escape the atmosphere in metal containers.

However, I thought "The Monkey Buddha" better reflected my personality & the myriad things I thought I'd be posting about.
Monkeys & Space are still 2 things that are guaranteed to get my attention, though.

Anyway, this is a really striking picture & contains as much gravitas as humor.

Tank.Axe.Love Posters

Space Ape

Chimp Experiencing Virtual Reality

This video shows a chimpanzee popping balloons in virtual reality. It's obvious that a primate, with sensory organs and a nervous system so similar to ours, could become immersed in VR as easily as humans.

Virtual reality devices are basically just ways to trick our brain using visual & audio stimuli. As long as a living creature has similar senses, there's no reason why it wouldn't affect them, too.

Unmasking the Ape

I saw this funny image on fusion anomalog.

If someone were to try to un-mask The Monkey Buddha, a similar situation would occur. Underneath my "human" face, I am actually just a clever primate.

I did a Google image search & found an image of the full cover, from Strange Adventures Vol. 1, #55

Chimp in Virtual Reality

On BoingBoing, I saw this video of a chimpanzee being immersed in a virtual reality (VR) program.

The chimp is obviously experiencing everything that a human would, when presented with the same stimuli. This proves that living things with similar sense organs are going to have perceptions that are similar in nature. The only difference is that non-human creatures don't have the inner dialogue of language that accompanies human thought.

The brain of any "higher" animal is an extremely adaptable organ, capable of adjusting to new sensory inputs or modes. Placing a VR headset on a primate like a chimpanzee proves that they are just as capable of navigating an imaginary, virtual space as humans.

Here's another video, where it appears the chimp is already familiar with the VR hardware. It grabs for the controller with the headset already on, and goes right to popping virtual balloons.

See also:

The Evolution of Robo-Ape

Primate Self-Reflection

After my last post about the poster featuring the proto-homonids in "2001: A Space Odyssey", I saw this animated GIF of a gorilla seeing itself in a mirror.

The gorilla's reaction is similar to that of our primitive ape ancestors in the movie, when faced with the evolutionary catalyst of The Monolith. Both objects facilitate self-awareness in the consciousness of the animal mind.

Different primates have varying degrees of ability to recognize the reflection in the mirror as themselves. 

Livescience:

 Can Monkeys Learn to Recognize Themselves in the Mirror?

Here's another funny GIF of a monkey seeing itself in a mirror:

Monkey Morality

"Morality May Have Roots
in our Primate Ancestors"

Considering how complex social behavior of monkeys can be, it's not surprising that these creatures can exhibit signs of what we call "morality." If they can drive around on scooters and Segways, or rock out to music, surely that is proof of complex cognitive function...

"Altruistic Apes"

Morality basically describes situational judgments that have social consequences. To me, morality is completely subjective. I have never believed in the totally absurd ideas of "absolute good" and "absolute evil". Just like monkeys, our actions are better characterized as 'better' or 'worse' for the individual or society. That consensus however, is pretty much a majority opinion and not some concrete, absolute fact- like many people think The Ten Commandments are.

People with the time and resources to observe monkeys have determined:

"Monkeys Have a
Sense of Morality"

Monkeys may exhibit morality, but that doesn't mean they are immune to vices such as gluttony...

My Golden Compass Daemon - a Monkey!

I don't know too much about The Golden Compass, other than it's supposed to be the atheist's answer to The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm guessing that's an overly simplistic reading of the story, though.

A feature on The Golden Compass website that was linked by Neatorama.com caught my attention enough to visit the site. It is a seemingly meaningless set of questions that help determine the animal spirit, or Daemon, that best corresponds to your soul qualities, or some crap like that.

After trying it though, I have to assume that there really is some type of magic involved, since it revealed my Daemon counterpart to be a wonderful primate by the name of Lysandra, characterized as modest, solitary, fickle, assertive, & flexible monkey. Get out of my head, Golden Compass!

Even The Monkey Buddha has Daemons.

Skateboarding Dr. Monkey

I've posted before about The Absurd Creations of Alan Wagner (@truewagner) & saw this fake DVD cover that he posted. I wish this was a real movie:

Skateboarding Dr. Monkey

Interestingly, there is a movie about a skateboarding chimp, "MVP-Most Vertical Primate"

Monkey Gangsta

On one end of the primate spectrum, you have enlightened Monkey Buddhas... and on the other end, you have badass Monkey Gangstas.

seen on Reddit