I heard that youve seenProject Nimtwenty-two times…
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Its twenty-four now.
Or it might be twenty-three.
I actually watched it again the other night I was crying within forty-five minutes.
Well, I wasnt involved in the making process, so I didnt see the daily cuts or anything.
I didnt see anyone elses interviews.
I was extremely pleased at how well it came out.
I did help in a number of ways.
I helped them get hold of Elise Moore, a friend of mine who was hard to track down.
I helped them get some equipment that they didnt otherwise have access to.
But I had no idea how the documentary was going to come out until I saw it at Sundance.
It was a bit anxiety raising.
You never know they could have thrown us all under the bus and said, theyre all crazy!
What usually happens is, people come up to me, and theyre just crying.
Its a beautiful thing, now, that Nims life isnt going to be meaningless.
And hopefully, itll become extremely important in helping chimpanzees, wherever they may find themselves.
Theyre all chimps, and they deserve to be respected as chimpanzees.
In 1973 to 1977, it was a different time.
I also found and this is all in hindsight that his methodology was flawed.
He didnt plan very well.
It didnt seem to me that they really sat down and thought about it very much.
It seemed to me that Stephanie found out about the project right before it started.
In Oklahoma, we had a bunch of people who all worked together, you know?
We were, like, the chimp people.
I think it was a case of, I can do it better than the Gardners.
Ill show them, through the wonders of my Harvard education.
So the reality is that the Garnders probably had a great deal more reason to push back on that.
But I really do think that Herb really thought he was going to do it better.
He was arrogant enough to think so, even without having any methodology or even thinking about it.
Obviously, he knew about the Gardners research it was all there.
I mean, it was 1966 when they started publishing it.
So thats seven years before he started.
His name was Bruno, who I later tried to help.
Herb isnt necessarily as honest as you would like him to be in his interview.
It cant possibly tell you every single detail.
Even the deaf community gets that.
That doesnt make it not language.
And also, that whole, Is it language or not is kind of a lofty ideal.
I think we should start with, Can he name an object?
Can he consistently call a bottle a bottle, using a symbol we taught him?
To me, thats mind-boggling.
Think about it, there are no other animals that can do that.
Dogs cant do that.
No tailed monkeys can do that.
Only some apes can.
Even gibbons cant do it, and theyre apes as well.
So it seems to me that Herbs goals were somewhat lofty.
Do you know what Im thinking right now?
I mean, really?
Do you know that Im thinking, I wonder what my wifes doing today?
I wonder how my cat is?
You know, Im thinking about all that while Im answering these questions.
But you dont know that.
So I think that idea is really ridiculous.
Because Herb was more interested in making Noam Chomsky look like an idiot.
And that jab was purposeful.
There were two very clearly defined camps, then.
No question about it.
Plus, there was a big competition between my major professor, Roger Faltz, and Herb.
But when Roger left, I was like, Take your camp with you.
Im staying with the chimps.
But thats personal opinion.
You understand what Im saying, though its far more complicated than you might think.
It was accurate in the sense that it did put Nims life in the forefront.
But I think Nim was purchased as a publicity stunt.
I dont think they were necessarily looking out for the chimps interests.
If they were, theyd have rescued all the chimps, and not just Nim.
Plus, a chimp group is more than just one or two chimps.
If youve seen Monkey World in Dorset, youll know how it can be.
If youve seen our film, youll know how it was for Nim.
Its certainly not the same.
Bob Ingersoll, thank you very much.
