Apes and the 'forbidden' Banana.
Lachlan Davis
My girlfriend just forwarded this to me and I thought it was pretty
funny (and sort of relevant to this group I guess). It gave me a good
chuckle, but then made me frown because I realized how true it is.
Anyway....
------------------
Lesser Primate Committee Thinking Experiment
================================
Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a banana on a
string and put stairs under it. Before long, an ape will go to the
stairs and start to climb towards the Banana. As soon as he touches the
stairs, spray all of the apes with cold water.
After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result-all the
apes are sprayed with cold water.
Turn off the cold water.
If, later, another ape tries to climb the stairs, the other apes will
try to prevent it even though no water sprays them.
Now, remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The New ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.
To his horror, all of the other apes attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a New
one.
The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.
Again, replace a third original ape with a new one. The new one makes
it to the stairs and is attacked as well.
Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea why they were not
permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the
beating of the newest ape.
After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which
have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?
"Because that's the way it's always been around here."
Sound familiar?
===============
(Again, I didn't write this and can't take credit for it. I thought it
was pretty good though.)
--
lachla...@geocities.com
#1134
Puzzle of the week: You have 10 boxes, each holding 10 bars of gold,
each bar weighing 1 pound. One of the boxes holds gold that is 10%
lighter. You have a scale that you can only use *once*. How can you
figure out which box holds the light gold? (There is no word play)
(Please don't ruin it for others by posting your answers to newsgroups)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
You know you're sober when you realize "Drink Canada Dry" is a slogan
and not a personal challenge.
Leonard Timmons
Lachlan Davis wrote:
> After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which
> have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
>
> Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?
>
> "Because that's the way it's always been around here."
>
> Sound familiar?
> ===============
This is called culture. Its normal in primates and many other
animals.
-leonard
NMS
Leonard Timmons wrote in message <350DED57...@mindspring.com>...
This sort of thing is also observed in something called "task mutation." I
remember working at a place with an old fashioned mimeograph machine which
required all sorts of levers to be pulled and twisted at just the right
time. The guy who taught me how to operate it told me how he'd been taught
to use it by the guy who worked there before him, but that it was a royal
pain to operate. Finally it occurred to him that the reason that it was so
hard was because he was using his left hand to do all sorts of things that
made more sense using the right.
Ultimately, it turned out that around five guys before, somebody using it
was left handed. When he taught it to the next guy, he simply said, "You
grab this with your left hand, you pull the sheet up with your right
hand..." and it became canonized in the "mimeo" lore and was passed on,
generation to generation. It took six generations of operators before the
"unfavorable" mutation was bred out.
Of course, I happen to be left handed, so I "bred" it right back in again.
NMS
Brian Keith Koontz
NMS <nmstev...@email.msn.com> wrote:
Do you not see the obvious here? You didn't "breed" it back
in again, you "bred" in the concept that you should use your
"primary hand" to determine the manner of production.
Were you being facetious, or merely stupid?
----- Vehemence
{Your friendly neighborhood Atheist}
Fish
These recent posts have reminded me of a humorous urban legend I first
read some years ago in GuidePosts magazine. This particular urban
legend, BTW, is believed to be true according to the good folks over at
alt.folklore.urban.
The story, as best as I can remember it, goes something like this:
Back during WWII, the United States Air Force purchased several hundred
acres of land somewhere in the southwestern part of the continental U.S.
in order to establish a llama farm. It seems that llama dung was used to
treat the leather used in the manufacture of the crew seats aboard the
B-17 bombers, as well as the leather jackets worn by the crew
themselves. They were worried if things happened to take a turn for the
worse, that their regular supply of the stuff from South America could
conceivably be cut-off, hindering the Allied war effort.
One day a certain low-ranking paper-pusher noticed some forms cross his
desk that had something to do with this unusual operation, and he of
course immediately questioned its validity. However, each time he
approached his superiors with the question "Why for goodness sake do we
need llama dung to make leather bomber seats and jackets?", the answer
given was always the same: "I don't know, but we've always done it that
way. Our job is not to question the reasons, but to just see that the
jobs get done!" It was either that or "I don't know, but the military
must have a good reason for doing it that way, or it wouldn't be in the
regs!"
Well, this certain person just wasn't satisfied with such answers (he
was probably an atheist! :) and decided to try and determine the reason.
He researched and researched and after many false leads and dead ends,
he eventually discovered the reason. To his dismay, the particular
military regulation that required all tanned leather be hand treated
with llama dung was copied from a similar regulation that the British
had had on their books ever since the cavalry days! It seems that back
then, when wars were fought by troops mounted on horses, the British
Army discovered that when they placed newly made saddles, bridles and
reins on their horses, they oftentimes acted quite skittish because of
the strong odor given off by the freshly tanned leather and only when
they hand rubbed them with llama dung, masking the smell, did their
trusty steeds allow such items to be placed upon them. Needless to say,
such treatment was totally unnecessary for leather jackets and bomber
seats, and the regulations regarding the treatment of leather goods used
in the manufacture of military items was soon updated sans the llama
dung requirement.
So when you come across a rule or regulation that seems questionable in
your mind, or a procedure that appears to not make any sense and the
answer you get as to why it has to be done that way is "Because we've
always done it that way," just raise your head slightly, sniff loudly a
few times and ask "Do you smell that? That odor? It sure smells like
llama dung to me!"
>;-)
--
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
Alt.Atheism #623
dtr...@wolfe.net.com
DUR1 STR5 BIT3 ACT1 DEF1
DEB1 CON1 SLM2 XTN3 PUB2
(change "wolfe.net" to "wolfenet"
if you wish to reply by e-mail)
Me
Brian Keith Koontz wrote:
>
> NMS <nmstev...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>
> > Leonard Timmons wrote in message <350DED57...@mindspring.com>...
> > >Lachlan Davis wrote:
> > >This is called culture. Its normal in primates and many other
> > >animals.
> > >
> > >-leonard
<snip amusing anecdote>
>
> > Of course, I happen to be left handed, so I "bred" it right back in again.
>
<snip>
>
> Were you being facetious, or merely stupid?
Were you being unnecessarily rude by habit or intent?
>
> ----- Vehemence
A name that suits your personality well.
>
> {Your friendly neighborhood Atheist}
Atheist perhaps. Friendly? Hardly!
We don't get much respect from the theists, but we could at least
respect each other.
- Me (or maybe some other crank)
Atheist #i
Leonard Timmons
Me wrote:
> Atheist perhaps. Friendly? Hardly!
>
> We don't get much respect from the theists, but we could at least
> respect each other.
Yep, he turned a nice set of stories into a mud fight.
-leonard