So the gist of the article is we should throw poop at people we don't like. Got it.

Sounds like your average Politics thread...

/So we're smart?

Such findings led the term to suggest that the ability to throw is, or was, a precursor to speech development in human beings.

Simians already vocalize and communicate using verbal sounds. But my understanding was that they are lacking in the necessary structure in the vocal organs to properly produce refined sounds which would develop into speech. In other words, neural improvement isn't enough to enable talking apes (despite what Planet of the Apes has taught us). It would take a major evolutionary leap to bring those necessary structures to them.

That doesn't preclude them from learning sign language, though. If they do become smarter, they would almost certainly be able to communicate with sign language and eventually writing. But speech will probably elude them for several thousand more years.

FTFA: He and his team have been watching chimps in action for several years and comparing their actions with scans of their brains to see if there were any correlations between those chimps that threw a lot, and those that didn't or whether they're accuracy held any deeper meaning.

It would seem the chimps have more intelligence than the writer of that article.

AverageAmericanGuy: Such findings led the term to suggest that the ability to throw is, or was, a precursor to speech development in human beings.

Simians already vocalize and communicate using verbal sounds. But my understanding was that they are lacking in the necessary structure in the vocal organs to properly produce refined sounds which would develop into speech. In other words, neural improvement isn't enough to enable talking apes (despite what Planet of the Apes has taught us). It would take a major evolutionary leap to bring those necessary structures to them.

I seem to recall reading several years ago that the part of the spinal column that connects the brain to the lungs in many pre-humans and all apes isn't wide enough to hold all of the nerve connections needed for the fine motor control of the lungs that speech requires. Which makes it relatively easy to tell by the fossil record if a human ancestor would have been incapable of speech.

That doesn't preclude them from learning sign language, though. If they do become smarter, they would almost certainly be able to communicate with sign language and eventually writing. But speech will probably elude them for several thousand more years.

There are highly specialized parts of the human brain used for language, which are not present in apes. So while it is possible to teach sign language to apes, it's very difficult (there are a few widely-known successes, such as Koko the gorilla, and many more failures).

I would guess that the closest analogy for humans would be trying to learn a second language as an adult.

So, the #Occupy crowd must be geniuses!

//

Obviously, the same does not apply to humans: