# Is anyone selectively breeding chimps et al for adaptive intelligence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851 "2002-08-14T14:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/1 "2002-08-14T14:48:27Z")
I want me a chimp slave a la “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.” Is anyone currently breeding a chimp or other animal solely for adaptive intelligence? (Impossible question to answer below - for the bravely speculative only) I would also like to speak to my chimp so he’ll need a more complex vocal apparatus. Given a nearly infinite but mutation free sample size, about how long will I have to wait before he has the capacity to produce the phonemes necessary to say “Stop touching me there.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/2 "2002-08-14T19:18:23Z")
You may not realize how unique human beings really are. The vocal apparatus is only a part of what is needed for coherent, human like speech. “Signing chimp” stories to the contrary, chimps do not have the requisite brain hardware to process language in anything appproaching a human fashion. You can breed as smart a chimp as you want, but in the end unless you plan on making some transcendent evolutionary jump all you’re got is a real smart chimp, not a proto-human intelligence or anything even close to it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/3 "2002-08-14T19:58:06Z")
You may not realize how unique human beings really are. The vocal apparatus is only a part of what is needed for coherent, human like speech. “Signing chimp” stories to the contrary, chimps do not have the requisite brain hardware to process language in anything appproaching a human fashion. You can breed as smart a chimp as you want, but in the end unless you plan on making some transcendent evolutionary jump all you’re got is a real smart chimp, not a proto-human intelligence or anything even close to it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/4 "2002-08-14T20:02:30Z")
Chimps may not be as smart as humans but at least they don’t double post. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/5 "2002-08-14T22:01:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*Chimps may not be as smart as humans but at least they don’t double post. \*\* Yeah, but it takes them a million posts just to get one that says what they want it to say. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/6 "2002-08-14T22:33:53Z")
Well, they’ve already found a chimp that could out-act Ted Bessel, so how hard could it be? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-selectively-breeding-chimps-et-al-for-adaptive-intelligence/123851/7 "2002-08-15T17:04:29Z")
Well, according to [this article](http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/08/15/coolsc.speech/index.html), they’ve identified what may be a key mutation allowing humans to develop speech, a subtle difference in the FOXP2 gene. Do a little mad scientist action with your other higher primates, and who knows…?