Comments on: this monkey’s gone to heaven

By: !wanda

!wanda — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:28:27 +0000

I have friends that use rhesus macaques for research. A ton of research money is spent on monkeys because each monkey costs a ton to maintain. The researchers and animal techs spend a lot of time interacting with the monkeys for enrichment and to manage the colony social dynamics (because monkeys will do things like bite a subordinate’s finger off). The monkeys only work a certain number of hours per day a certain number of days a week, and they get several weeks of vacation a year. (The graduate students, on the other hand, are at the mercy of their advisors for vacation time and work 60+ hour weeks, including weekends.) In one lab, each monkey gets retired to a monkey sanctuary at age 9 or so, too, at the lab’s expense. It’s not an ideal life, but it compares favorably with macaque lifestyles in the wild, where they do not have access to modern medicine and walls between them and non-friendly monkeys.

By: Larus

Larus — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:35:08 +0000

Excellent post!
What makes me angry is that, in theory, we don’t need to sacrifice to continue living our comfy lives. It’s not like “internet or chimpanzees!” or “highway system or blue whales!” not even “your SUV or coral reefs!” We can most probably enjoy both but somehow the world is set up in such a way that we are doing unnecessary damage.

By: shadox

shadox — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:38:59 +0000

This is a very good post and I agree with some of it, but I don’t share your sense of pessimism. Generally speaking the world is getting to be a better place, not a worse one. While many people are nostalgic for the past, I for one think that the world today is better than it was in the middle ages (or in the 70′s for that matter).

Yes, there are definitely drawbacks to technological progress, but for the most part once those are recognized the really bad ones are reversed or greatly mitigated: the whales are not extint; the hole in the ozone is no longer growing and appears to be shrinking; the air today is cleaner than it was just 20 years ago. Yes – there are some major challenges to overcome, and more are created all the time. Such is life.

By: Links: Attack of Actress Amy Adams and E-mail Edition

Links: Attack of Actress Amy Adams and E-mail Edition — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:04:55 +0000

[...] Blap wonders about a world without monkeys. It was truly one of the best articles I’ve read in some time, despite the fact that he [...]

By: SavingDiva

SavingDiva — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:27:26 +0000

This monkey picture totally makes up for your nasty egg picture.

I think monkeys will be kept alive if only for research. I know it’s a disturbing picture, but there is a TON of research money being spent on monkey research…

By: finaidgirl

finaidgirl — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:20:47 +0000

This post makes me think of an incredible book that did for my “environmental” thinking the same thing that “Your Money or Your Life” did for my financial thinking. It’s called “Ishmael” and if you or anyone reading this comment hasn’t read it, please do so as soon as you can! It seems bizarre at first (just like YMOYL) but it’s worth it, it really changed my way of thinking about the world.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:08:31 +0000

Not to start an argument or anything, but I will say again that species disappear by the hundreds of thousands. All the dinosaurs disappeared, for goodness sake! It was catastrophic, but other species poured in to fill the void. Someday, no doubt, humans will vanish, but that’s the way life goes. Something else will come along, and maybe it will all start over again and, millions of years later, sentient beings will re-emerge. Let’s hope that they manage things better than we do!

By: Solar Yard Lights

Solar Yard Lights — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:33:19 +0000

I disagree with the statement that it would create a minor effect on the ecosystems. Monkeys are a huge part of the eco system, their loss would be enormous. If we lost something like the galapagos tortoise where it’s numbers are already short and it;’s isolated in just one area, then maybe it wouldn’t have that much of an effect on the world. Actually it wouldn’t have any effect outside of the Galapagos.
Every loss, is a loss. Whether it be big or small, when an species or genus is wiped off this planet, thats that. No turning back. Thats the sad reality of the world.

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:23:03 +0000

@J: As Ruth said, I think you misunderstood the point I am trying to make. It’s not that I don’t think it would be bad, and it’s not that I think it would have an impact on the ecosystem – I understand that there’s a poorly understood and staggeringly complex interrelationship between all living things, and we have no idea what would happen if monkeys disappear.

I just meant, for the sake of argument, that the loss might SEEM minor – species disappear constantly – but it in fact would have a terrible effect on the world in general. Even small losses are losses that will never be recovered. I hope that clears up your perception of where I was going with this piece – if it didn’t read the way I meant it to, hopefully this response clears it up a bit.

By: J

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:19:58 +0000

Wasn’t mad and I am not some crazed environmentalist or animal rights person. Hey they just shot a cougar about a mile from my house in Chicago and I think it was the right thing to do!

I do get that the overall sentiment of the post was sympathetic, I just think that is was poorly executed and ended up sounding like he was saying that the loss of a single species is only important in a very superficial, touchy-feely way. It diminishes the importance of the ecological impact that this type of potential loss might have on an ecosystem. When you throw out statements like “[b]ut there is no real ‘reason’ for monkeys” and “non-essential part of the world” you have to expect that somebody might take issue with it! I was just taking issue with portions of the post because it just perpetuates the ignorance about these issues and an American-centric worldview.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:15:55 +0000

As others have spoken in defense of ecosystems, science, complexity, and monkeys, I’d like to speak in defense of creative writing and the concept of a freaking metaphor. Seriously people.

Thought provoking post, BB.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:12:52 +0000

To the contrary, J, I think Brip Blap is entirely sympathetic to the loss of species. While it is true that species are constantly becoming extinct (well over a million and counting) and yet the world goes on, I think BB was trying to point out how very sad it is that we regard the future so little that we are doing this. Don’t get mad at BB–he is hardly the enemy!

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By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:02:16 +0000

“I thought Lending Club was a decent investment.”

I still think LC is a decent investment. They will be back and better than ever.

By: J

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:27:53 +0000

Why would you assume there wouldn’t be a collapse in the monkey’s ecosystem? Seems like the typical naive opinion that is present in American today about so many things…it is far away so it must not be that important. It doesn’t directly impact your day-to-day life in ways you can comprehend so you think there is “no reason” for monkeys. Maybe you should leave commenting about the importance of things you might not understand to those better trained to do so. While your sentiment towards the end is encouraging, your general argument that “it doesn’t matter” if we lose monkeys is very disappointing.

By: katy

katy — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:26:14 +0000

The Pixies! Yay! You made my day – and your posts are great.