RE: virus: Level 3 dichotomy

Vicki Rosenzweig (rosenzweig@hq.acm.org)
Tue, 05 Nov 96 15:47:00 PST


For what it's worth, I don't find any insult in being compared
to a chimp: we're all animals, and sometimes the ways in which
we're like each other may be relevant pr informative, as can the
differences. (For example, both humans and chimps can teach
each other how to use tools; humans create words, and as far
as we know chimps don't.)

I'm not going to have much time to post, or even read, for the
next few weeks: I'm on a grand jury, performing essentially ritual
activities that are so boring that most chimps would refuse
to have anything to do with them. (Basically, someone walks
in, makes a few statements, asks a second person some ritual
questions, then they both leave. We the grand jury vote. When
we're done, we ring a bell and announce the results. Repeat,
several times an hour. A chimp would either wander off or at least
try to groom her neighbor; I, an allegedly "superior" being, sit
patiently for all this and don't talk when I'm not supposed to.

Vicki