Hi Russell.
From New York Times, 12 september, 2007, in an obituary to Alex the African Grey parrot:
"A truly dispassionate observer might argue that most Grey parrots could probably learn what Alex had learned, but only a microscopic minority of humans could have learned what Alex had to teach. Most humans are not truly dispassionate observers. We're too invested in the idea of our superiority to understand what an inferior quality it really is. I always wonder how the experiments would go if they were reversed — if, instead of us trying to teach Alex how to use the English language, Alex were to try teaching us to understand the world as it appears to parrots."
Also: http://www.alexfoundation.org/ for some stuff on Alex.
RED HEADS
tuesday 18092007
sunday 16092007
From New York Times, 12 september, 2007, in an obituary to Alex the African Grey parrot:
"A truly dispassionate observer might argue that most Grey parrots could probably learn what Alex had learned, but only a microscopic minority of humans could have learned what Alex had to teach. Most humans are not truly dispassionate observers. We're too invested in the idea of our superiority to understand what an inferior quality it really is. I always wonder how the experiments would go if they were reversed — if, instead of us trying to teach Alex how to use the English language, Alex were to try teaching us to understand the world as it appears to parrots."
Also:
http://www.alexfoundation.org/ for some stuff on Alex.