Alex, The Brainy Parrot Who Knows About Zero 435
Roland Piquepaille writes "Alex is a 28-year-old grey parrot who lives in a lab at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., and can count, identify objects, shapes, colors and materials. And now, Alex has grasped the concept of zero, according to World Science. In fact, Alex can describe the absence of a numerical quantity on a tray containing colored cubes. When a color is missing, Alex consistently identified this 'zero quantity' by saying the label 'none.' You might think that this is just a parrot trick, but this research about 'bird intelligence' might also help autistic and other learning-disabled children 'who have trouble learning language and counting skills.' This overview contains other details, references and a picture of Alex counting his colored cubes."
zero (Score:5, Funny)
Bah (Score:0, Funny)
PS. Slashdot editors, please use your formidable editing powers (and what a rich history of fine editing you have!) to stop advertising Piquepaille's weblog.
PPS. For your general amusement, here's an amusing article from The Onion [theonion.com].
Alex the Brainy Parrot says.. (Score:5, Funny)
Roland Piquepaaaaaaaille went from <none> to $500 in three minutes.
Polly... (Score:2, Funny)
That's not new... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hubris (Score:5, Funny)
To summarize... (Score:5, Funny)
I always knew David Lettermen was onto something with stupid pet tricks, I'm surprised he never got a grant.
He's Not Counting (Score:5, Funny)
Brainy Holand Piquepaille grasps concept of $0 (Score:5, Funny)
"It's amazing", reported one scientist. "Although usually it takes human-level intelligence to grasp the concept of submitting news articles without any chance for a monetary return, we were able to teach the concept to Holand Piquepaille."
Unfortunately, the results are not yet conclusive, and it remains to be seen whether or not Holand Piquepaille will return all the money he duped out of people for looking at primidi.com. Scientists are hopeful, but note, "This is the first time that this concept has ever been documented in this particular species of whore, so we still need lots more evidence for the data to be conclusive."
Another researcher pointed out: "Holand has demonstrated the concept of $0, but we're not sure if he's grasped what he wanted him to, or if he's just hit on related themes like 'The amount of value my posts add to Slashdot'."
Scientists hope that further research will prove that Holand is destined to lead a life of future altruism. Keep your hopes up!
Re:zero (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, but can it do negatives? (Score:5, Funny)
A parrot that counts 0 blue blocks is all fine and dandy. But can he count --3 red balls? Or 5i yellow chips?
See, you're not so smart are you, eh, bird-brain?
Alex probably knows the Holy Grail.. (Score:5, Funny)
Alex: Blue, no Yelllllllllloooooooooooooooowww
Re:zero (Score:5, Funny)
So does that mean the parrot has you beat since he understands the concept of zero and you don't?
Re:Polly... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah, but can it do negatives? (Score:2, Funny)
Can you? Go on, count to 5i.
Dumb Roland (Score:3, Funny)
In fact, Alex can describe the absence of a numerical quantity on a tray containing colored cubes. When a color is missing, Alex consistently identified this 'zero quantity' by saying the label 'none.'
Newsflash: Roland Piquepaille is dumber than a parrot!
Zero is not the absence of a numerical quantity. Zero is a numerical quantity. The absence of a numerical quantity is when you don't know how much there is of something.
It's like the difference between 0 and NULL in a database. This parrot is smarter than both Roland Piquepaille and MySQL developers.
Obligatory... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:zero (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Very Intelligent (Score:5, Funny)
I generally avoid relatives who bite while talking/playing. But, um, congratulations on their discovery of grammar!
Re:Very Intelligent (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, my relatives are the same way.
Arrr! Pirate parrots (Score:3, Funny)
Doesn't anyone realise these creatures are only an opposable thumb away from slaughtering us in our beds? Stop teaching them stuff!
Bah, that's nothing. (Score:4, Funny)
More important than "none" (Score:2, Funny)
Veruca Salt (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hubris... Yes... (Score:5, Funny)
You missspelled 'avian'."
You misspelled "misspelled"...
_____________________________
Dyslexics of the world untie!
Re:Ravens put chimps to shame (Score:1, Funny)
Yes. I'd like, too.
and the parrot replies... (Score:3, Funny)
Parrot: "Let's jump off a skyscraper while I'm counting your balls."
See, you're not so smart are you, eh, bird-brain?
Parrot: "Smart enough to be able to shit on your head and not a damm thing you can do about it."
No big deal (Score:3, Funny)
Re:zero (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hubris (Score:3, Funny)
Re:zero (Score:3, Funny)
In other news, chimps are learning .NET
Re:zero (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hubris... Yes... (Score:2, Funny)
You also misspelled 'overlords'
NULL (Score:3, Funny)
Now if he can just grasp the concept of NULL, he can do SQL.
Re:NULL (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hubris... Yes... (Score:2, Funny)
You misspelt "misspelt"...
Go ahead, mod me troll. :P