[ExI] Koko dead at 46

[Stuart LaForge]

Koko the lowland gorilla, famous for being the first non-human creature to
master a human language (American Sign Language) died unexpectedly last
Tuesday June 18, 2018 in her sleep. Among her accomplishments are the
acquisition of a 1000 word sign language vocabulary, the use of mirrors to
groom herself, the teaching of sign language to other apes, and the use of
sign language to express sophisticated counter-factual ideas such the
desire to have children, lies, and even "jokes".

http://time.com/5318710/koko-gorilla-life/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqJf1mB5PjQ


Having found out about this just after reading Anders and Drexler's new
article about the Fermi Paradox, I experienced an intense feeling of
existential loneliness and grief difficult to describe and quite
unexpected given that she was a gorilla and moreover one I had never met.

Stuart LaForge