Comment Re:Article: The Brainy Parrot Who Knows About Zero (Score 0, Troll) 435
> Alex has grasped the concept of zero
Oh, Alex again. Been a while now.
What does it mean to grasp a concept? How much do you need to know about it and how it is applied? Does a vending machine master the concept of "money"? Does an infant master the concept of "milk" or a one-year old the concept of "mother"? Probably not. Neither is it reasonable to assign concept mastery to Alex, neither with regards to colours or numbers. He (like the kids mentioned) simply doesn't know enough about either of these things.
It is nice that research is being done on how we can interact with animals, and if funding runs out, there is always the circus for Alex. That is not the case with autists - so please, please, lay low with that until there is something tenable. The shortened quote "...a training method called the model-rival technique, also holds promise for teaching autistic [snip] children [snip] empathy" is quite a mouthful. If this is empathy Alex-style, it might have something going for it. If it is meant to give hope of an ill defined group children being able to participate in the human games which they are now completely unable to play, I doubt that very, very much and find the claim slightly distasteful.
Hope you get your funding.
best,
--Inge
Oh, Alex again. Been a while now.
What does it mean to grasp a concept? How much do you need to know about it and how it is applied? Does a vending machine master the concept of "money"? Does an infant master the concept of "milk" or a one-year old the concept of "mother"? Probably not. Neither is it reasonable to assign concept mastery to Alex, neither with regards to colours or numbers. He (like the kids mentioned) simply doesn't know enough about either of these things.
It is nice that research is being done on how we can interact with animals, and if funding runs out, there is always the circus for Alex. That is not the case with autists - so please, please, lay low with that until there is something tenable. The shortened quote "...a training method called the model-rival technique, also holds promise for teaching autistic [snip] children [snip] empathy" is quite a mouthful. If this is empathy Alex-style, it might have something going for it. If it is meant to give hope of an ill defined group children being able to participate in the human games which they are now completely unable to play, I doubt that very, very much and find the claim slightly distasteful.
Hope you get your funding.
best,
--Inge
