If RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES taught us anything, it’s that we should be terrified of ape intelligence. But, if PROJECT NIM taught us anything, it’s that we deserve it.
Terrified or not, there’s a chimp out there whose intelligence has successfully owned our feeble human brains. Ayumu, a chimp in Japan, has been named a “genius” after completing a computer memory test faster than any human ever has. Not only that, but he can complete the sequence faster than it takes you to blink.
The special chimp was born and raised in Japan’s Kyoto University where he has study sessions” everyday. He can remember the position and order of a sequence of numbers in record time and gets a treat every time he does well. If we were given a treat every time we excelled, we’d likely be smart too. Just sayin’…
He’s not the only chimp who has us frightened of monkey domination, though. Last December, an American charity gave their orangutans some iPads to play with. They were able to function well on the tablet devices, watching videos and playing with the painting app.
Maybe if we give them enough iPads, they’ll be too busy playing ANGRY BIRDS to dominate the human race.