"The idea that lots of people, potentially everybody, can be involved in the process of innovation is utterly transforming. Two things make this possible, one obvious and one not. The obvious one is—say it with me—the Internet. The other one, the surprising one, is a curious phenomenon you could call intellectual altruism. It turns out that given the opportunity, people will donate their time and brainpower to make the world better."
Karen's Letters
On My Mind: Zoos Then and Now
By Karen Pryor on 08/10/2010What’s a good thing to do with a bunch of kids on a summer day? Go to the zoo! I’ve never gotten over my childhood love of zoos. I took my kids, and now I take theirs (you can share a memorable visit to the zoo with my grandchildren in Reaching the Animal Mind, Chapter 5, Creativity).
On My Mind: A Summer Dream
By Karen Pryor on 07/13/2010If God made man in his own image, I figure God made woman in his own image, too, and lots of other things, too. I mean, God might not always care to look like a male primate. Sometimes She might look beautiful in other ways, and make other things in her own image. Jellyfish, for instance. What could be more beautiful—and fun to be, too? Jellyfish have nerve centers all around the circle, like lots of little brains that do things together.
On My Mind: Reaching the Animal Mind Celebrates its First Birthday!
By Karen Pryor on 06/08/2010Reaching the Animal Mind (RTAM) came out exactly a year ago, in June of 2009. And wow, what a year it’s been!
On My Mind: It's Not What You Do. It's How You Do It.
By Karen Pryor on 05/18/2010It’s a sunny spring afternoon in New England at the annual meeting of a group of animal behaviorists. I’m sitting on a folding chair alongside a small corral, watching some demonstrations with horses. My friend Tim Sullivan, curator of behavioral husbandry at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, is sitting on my left.
We’re watching a demonstration of clicker training. A calm old police horse is led into the corral and turned loose. The trainer stands on our side of the fence. She has a clicker, a bucket of feed, and a huge target stick that looks like a toilet plunger, with a big padded lump on one end.
