Vom subtilen Unterschied zwischen Linken und Schimpansen

Aktuelles aus der Wissenschaft.

Sciencealert schreibt: Chimps Can Revise Their Beliefs When Shown New Evidence, Study Finds

Man hat herausgefunden, dass Schimpansen ihre Überzeugungen ändern können, wenn man ihnen neue Beweise vorlegt. Linke können das nicht.

Chimpanzees can change their minds when the facts no longer support their previous beliefs – a rational level of thinking that was once considered uniquely human.

In a series of experiments designed to test the metacognition of these fascinating apes, psychologist Hanna Schleihauf of Utrecht University and her colleagues observed, for the first time, how chimpanzees can weigh different kinds of evidence – and change their beliefs in response to a stronger argument.

“This is really the strongest and hardest test for this understanding of so-called second-order evidence,” Schleihauf told ScienceAlert. “I think we have the evidence that we can say, okay, no, rationality in its fundamental form is not uniquely human, but we also share some basic processes of this with chimpanzees.”

Schimpansen können rational denken und handeln. Dazu schaut man sich am besten auch die Graphik auf der Webseite an.

There were several kinds of evidence. Strong evidence was visual: the chimpanzee would see the human physically placing the apple in the box, or see the apple in the box through a clear perspex side. Merely hearing something rattle in the box, or seeing a few crumbs, was classified as weaker evidence.

The first two experiments were the simplest. The chimps were presented with two boxes and then given evidence about each one. When the stronger evidence was presented before the weaker, the chimpanzees tended to stick with their original choice. When the weaker evidence was presented first, they changed their mind. So far, so straightforward.

For the next experiment, the researchers added a third box for which no evidence was provided, then removed the strong-evidence box. Here, the chimpanzees mostly opted for the weak-evidence box over the no-evidence box.

In the fourth experiment, the researchers presented redundant weak evidence or new weak evidence. In the first scenario, the researchers rattled the box twice, so the chimpanzees heard the same piece of food rattling inside the box; but for the second, the chimpanzees were presented with the sound of a second piece of food being dropped in the box.

This is where it gets a bit more interesting. The chimpanzees tended to choose the new, additional evidence over the redundant evidence, suggesting that they can discern between new and old information.

Finally, the fifth experiment was the kicker. The chimpanzees were shown that earlier evidence could be false: the piece of apple turned out to be just a picture on the perspex, or a rock rattling in the box. In this case, the chimpanzees changed their minds more often, rejecting the misleading evidence in favor of more reliable cues.

Schimpansen können rationaler denken als Linke, Marxisten, Feministen, weil sie in der Lage sind, Realität über ihre Überzeugung zu setzen, während Linke alles für „soziale Konstrukte“ halten, Sprechakt und so, und alles ihrer Ideologie unterordnen.

“Animals are not acting purely on instinct, and their behavior has a certain pattern, and they do follow evidence in the world. Reflective responsiveness to reason means you’re really aware why you hold certain beliefs. Showing that they changed their mind when the reason was defeated is evidence that they have this capacity.”

The results suggest that chimpanzee intelligence might be a little bit closer to how we define human intelligence than we thought. They can weigh and compare evidence, rather than just react to it; track what they know and how they know it; and recognize unreliable evidence and revise their decisions accordingly.

Menschen können natürlich alltagsmäßig mehr als Schimpansen: Sie können sprechen, lesen, schreiben, in größeren Zeiträumen denken, haben bessere Feinmotorik, mehr kulturelle Tiefe, mehr Feinmotorik und alles so weiter. Aber sie sind Schimpansen offenbar nicht in jeder Hinsicht überlegen. Schimpansen sind einsichtsfähiger als viele Menschen.