Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
I keep on coming up with examples and they keep on boiling down to communication and asking someone to do something they haven't done before or that their isn't a hardwired chimp screech for. Of course chimps don't have our language, but the point is that even when given it and put under good motivation to ask others to do things, they can't. They can't ask the smallest chimp to go and get that mango from the branch only it can reach. They won't hold open a door for another so it can get to the food.
|
In one of my favourite TED talks, Frans de Waal shows
video footage of chimps who have been taught to cooperate in just that way. Whether that means they can do the same in the wild, I don't know. Watch through to the end though, there's a few other interesting examples of cooperation and empathy.
Quote:
|
Part of me wonders if dogs have broken this barrier. They at least receive messages. I think they also know to ask humans for things they want, but that's not being creative about what they want the human to do, that's faith in the human to figure something out.
|
I think the behaviour of herding dogs fits the definition, doesn't it?
But actually, whether these animals fit the OP's definition is probably beside the point. The question was how to GURPSify the trait for an alien species, whether chimps and dogs can do it or not.