After meeting the changeable tattletale/conspirator Thorin yesterday, it seems appropriate to consider more about animals and sharing today.

We care about fairness. Sometimes.
Chimpanzees do too. Perhaps.

Playing something called “The Ultimatum Game,” chimpanzees demonstrated a sense of fair play on about the same level as a group of 2 to 7 year olds, according to a paper published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Although there is some disagreement among researchers. The authors of an earlier study where chimps played “The Ultimatum Game” concluded the opposite – that our primate relatives really do not care about fairness at all.

And so there is a back-and-forth. Authors of the latest study defend their work.
Critics cast doubt.

I’m sure it’s all in the interests of gaining a greater understanding of our world, but when will the poop flinging start? That’s what I want to see. Don’t I get a reward too?

Here’s another primate experiment where Capuchin Monkeys demonstrated a visceral reaction to unequal distribution of the goods, seen on a bi-weekly basis among humans when women and men receive their paychecks for doing the same work.

The Capuchin in the video is doing something the chimps in the more recent study did not do – rejecting a reward because it is inadequate compared to what the other monkey is getting. Is that so very different from feeling bitter about the quality of someone else’s car, house, lawn or life?

I would like to see a study where Chimpanzees are given the chance to buy wedding dresses and flat screen televisions along with the mechanism to flaunt these purchases in front of the other chimps, who would, of course, fling poop. I’m guessing my study would have absolutely no scientific value, but the videos would have wonderful ratings.

How keen is your sense of fairness?

Today is Wright Brothers Day, observing the achievement of Orville and Wilbur Wright in launching the first heaver-than-air powered flight on this date in 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Accordingly, today’s post comes from Idea Generator Spin Williams.

Hi Inventors!

Yes, you! You may not think of yourselves this way, but you’re inventors, or you could be, if you decided to give it as much time and attention as The Wright Brothers! We were talking about them at The Meeting That Never Ends, and everybody had a lot to say even though nobody at the table knew very much at all about Orville and Wilbur. After all, we’re always in a meeting – we don’t have much time to learn things. But we’re pretty sure that people are right when they say the brothers invented the airplane, and we’re full of admiration for anybody who gets first place in anything.

But why even talk about the Wright Brothers?

One thing we’re always looking for at T.M.T.N.E. is to get in on the ground floor with the next big invention that will re-shape our world, change lives and make us immortal. If it hadn’t already been invented, the airplane is exactly the kind of idea we’d like to be involved with. The brothers could have used our potent blend of venture capital and marketing advice, but when they were working at their bike shop in Ohio and at Kitty Hawk, the science of marketing hadn’t been invented yet and none of us were alive.

Timing is important!

That’s why we’re turning to you – the people we don’t know and can’t see. One thing that makes you better than the Wright Brothers (in our eyes) is that you’re alive! That’s a great advantage you have over very smart dead people when it comes to thinking up ideas and making money off them!

What hasn’t been created yet that you would like to invent? Is it something that can be done with bicycle parts, paper and spruce? The Wright Brothers had their success because they understood the importance of control – something you learn after you’ve fallen off a bicycle a few times. While others were strapping bigger engines onto flimsy airframes, the bicycle guys were focusing their efforts on Not Crashing. That was a case of specialized knowledge (the importance of balance and control), applied to a common problem (defeating gravity). Is there an area where you have specialized knowledge that the “experts” addressing a Big Problem may not have?

And when I say “Big Problem”, I mean something like the annoying fact that Teleportation is impossible.

Wouldn’t you like to change that? So would we! Share your specialized knowledge and its application to a Big Problem, and we’re on our way to liftoff! We’ll encourage you and back you, and everyone will succeed. Years later, we might accuse each other of fraud and wind up in court, but that’s no reason not to enjoy some great years right now in an exciting and productive partnership! The troubles will be nothing more than a footnote, and we’ll all get credit for thinking up something big!

Your future financier/friend/foe,
Spin Williams.

What invention have you thought about that would put you alongside the Wright Brothers?

News goes in cycles and the nature of the stuff that interests us ebbs and flows, but immortality is always a hot topic especially when it’s presented as something that is almost within reach.

Drat the luck if people figure out how to live forever the day after I fall off a ladder while hanging Christmas lights!

Three years ago, inventor Ray Kurzweil said immortality was 20 years away. That’s a humbling number for anyone over or around 60. Kurzweil is taking no chances with his own bid to live forever. This 2008 article in Wired described his elaborate regimen of clinic visits and supplements intended to bolster his health until “the singularity” arrives, when intelligent machines take over and provide a vital assist to keep their biological buddies (us), perpetually present.

Best of luck, Mr. K.

If you can’t wait for your chance to become a citizen cyborg, there’s always the tantalizing hope offered by an enzyme discovered in an Australian pond by molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn. Not only did she get to share a Nobel Prize for her work, she got a nifty 45 minute program on the Smithsonian channel.

But if Blackburn’s enzyme doesn’t spark your dreams of endless longevity, how about jellyfish? This past Sunday, the New York Times Magazine ran an extremely long article that’s getting lots of interest right now, about a creature called Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the Immortal Jellyfish.

I confess I haven’t read any of Kurzweil’s books, watched the complete Smithsonian program, or done more than skim through the Times article. Anyone who wants to stay up to date on all the different ways we might become immortal will need to have a lot of extra free time to take it all in.

But my favorite thing about the jellyfish story (when it’s too old to live, Turritopsis dohrnii “ages backwards”, returning to it’s polyp stage so it can start over again) is the character who turns out to be one of the world’s leading experts on the creature.

Dr. Shin Kubota of Japan is living this life like he gets only one shot at it. He’s not merely a scientist, he’s a karaoke enthusiast (two hours each day!) and a songwriter. This isn’t a sideline – the music is part of his fascination with immortality. Here’s a quote from the Times article:

“We must love plants — without plants we cannot live. We must love bacteria — without decomposition our bodies can’t go back to the earth. If everyone learns to love living organisms, there will be no crime. No murder. No suicide. Spiritual change is needed. And the most simple way to achieve this is through song.”

Here’s how you know he’s not your typical scientist. He goes on TV, wearing a jellyfish hat, to sing songs he has written about Turritopsis dohrnii.

This is called “Scarlet Medusa Chorus”.

The Times didn’t provide a translation, but Sarah Laskow posted some of the words in Grist.

My name is Scarlet Medusa,
A teeny tiny jellyfish
But I have a special secret
that no others may possess
I can — yes, I can! — rejuvenate

Not the greatest lyrics, but if Kubota’s research pans out, he’ll have forever to do the revisions.

Would you want to live forever?