On Wed, 10 Apr 2002 03:31:07 Jimmy Wales wrote:
Great apes (bonobos, gorillas, etc.) are a class of people for whom 24 alleges to speak? "white trash"? To me, these don't sound like positions sincerely held, but positions chosen simply to generate more heat than light.
AFAICT, 24 sincerely believes (or has at least consistently taken the position) that Great Apes deserve the rights of personhood. This came up in an argument I had with him on the Artificial Intelligence article (which still needs a fair bit of work).
He's not enitrely alone in this:
http://www.greatapeproject.org/gaphome.html
I've no idea how much support they have, though.
I don't think 24 is a troll. I think he's a kook who rejects the goals of our project and is actively attempting to change the project to fit his own ideas.