[pistoriusp]

I saw a meme that I think about fairly often: Great apes have learnt sign language, and communicated with humans, since the 1960's. In all that time they've never asked human questions. They've never tried to learn anything new! The theory is that they don't know that there are entities that know things they don't.

I like to think that AI are the great apes of the digital world.

[20k]

Its worth noting that the idea that great apes have learnt sign language is largely a fabrication by a single person, and nobody has ever been able to replicate this. All the communication has to be interpreted through that individual, and anyone else (including people that speak sign language) have confirmed that they're just making random hand motions in exchange for food

They don't have the dexterity to really sign properly

[krapht]

Citation needed.

[rightbyte]

I mean dogs can learn a simple sign language?

[MangoToupe]

> The theory is that they don't know that there are entities that know things they don't.

This seems like a rather awkward way of putting it. They may just lack conceptualization or abstraction, making the above statement meaningless.

[sodality2]

The exact title of the capacity is 'theory of mind' - for example, chimpanzees have a limited capacity for it in that they can understand others' intentions, but they seemingly do not understand false beliefs (this is what GP mentioned).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.010

[BOOSTERHIDROGEN]

Does that means intelligent is soul? Then we will never achieve AGI.