Monkey Business and Freakonomics
April 20th, 2007 | by jg3 |Here’s something that caught my attention: One of the Stevens (Dubner) who wrote Freakonomics is now publishing a new book based on research done with capuchin monkeys.
I very much enjoyed Freakonomics and I enjoy working with little monkeys (at the zoo, not in my day job — just to be clear) so this promises to be fascinating. The catch is that the Steven (Levitt) who was the brilliant, nerdy brain behind the operation doesn’t appear to be involved in this new book, it is just the writer/transcriber half of the pair. Still, the article (linked above) describes the research in the book as a study in economics among the monkeys where useless washers were currency that could be exchanged for treats … and more.
Filed under: money, Real Life
One Response to “Monkey Business and Freakonomics”
By mijoy on Apr 22, 2007 | Reply
Woah!!!!!
“Out of the corner of his eye, Chen saw that one monkey gave a coin to another (instead of rushing to exchange it for treats.) He thinks, am I witnessing the first instance of monkey altruism? No. He was actually witnessing something he said he really wished he hadn’t seen,” said Dubner.
After a brief grooming ritual, the monkeys who exchanged the coin started to have sex. Immediately after the incident, the paid monkey went over to Chen to get food in exchange for returning the coin…