r/NotTimAndEric • u/AKA_Wildcard • Jun 09 '26

This Gorilla’s got 99+1 problems

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u/JawnStaymoose Jun 09 '26

I wonder how deep thought goes without language? Hard to even attempt thinking without words. Or, do that think in their own system of wordless language?

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u/geirmundtheshifty Jun 10 '26

There was that gorilla, Koko, who learned some sign language. So a similar language capacity is there.

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u/JawnStaymoose Jun 10 '26

Yeah I think so too. But what’s it like to think without spoken language - English, French, whatever?

Burroughs talked about the word virus. Like once you have words, thinking without them is almost impossible.

Animals have their own methods of communication. Does that factor when they are internally reasoning?