Thursday, October 2, 2025

Quips and Quotations (Not-So-Missing Link Edition)

 



When, in the early 1960s, I brazenly used such words as "childhood", "adolescence", "motivation", "excitement", and "mood" I was much criticized. Even worse was my crime of suggesting that chimpanzees had "personalities". I was ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman animals and was thus guilty of that worst of ethological sins—anthropomorphism.

--Jane Goodall (1934-2025)

21 comments:

  1. I guess there are still (delete offensive words) who believe there isn't a connection between animals and humans. Vale the marvellous Jane.

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    1. I get what you're saying, Andrew. Human being are animals. Deal with it.

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  2. RIP Jane. A good one gone :-( Let's hope she continues to have an impact after death.

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    1. Well, Ananka, Jane made some lasting contributions to science, so that should still have an impact (though not necessarily here in the USA, where the teaching of science is continuously under attack.)

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  3. An incredible woman. She changed the way many people think and introduced us to an entire different world.

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  4. One of the very greatest. May her memory be a blessing.

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  5. Hi Kirk, Goodall meant that her critics felt that people should be insulted to be compared to animals, but more and more it is the animals who are insulted by the comparison.
    --Jim

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    1. Jim, the animals may yet file a libel suit.

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    1. Let's hope it's not part of a mass extinction, Debra.

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  7. An amazing woman who really cared. ❤️

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  8. Yes, I agree... Jane Goddall will missed.

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    1. Erica, I've seen her passing mentioned on several blogs. I'm pleasantly surprised.

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  9. It's amazing to think that scientists once criticized her for acknowledging something as obvious as chimpanzees having personalities.

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    1. Science was rather human-centric back in the day, Melody.

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  10. Hi, very nice blog, I am new, I follow you 65, maybe follow back?

    https://myfashionworldbyt.blogspot.com/

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  11. I headed there now, Fashion World.

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In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.