UKC

I was listening to BBC Radio 2 this morning and they said that Sea Otters use stones as tools from as young as pups, which means the use of the stones as tools is instinctive, unlike humans who had to learn how to use tools.

So I thought, if climbing was instinctive to humans, and I mean like climbing a HVS, how would that change rock climbing, as we know it today?

L

In reply to lone:

Climbing is instinctive , learning something is just the honing of skills in regard to this instinct.
I would argue that using tools is also instinctive as its in our potential to do this .

Seems a strange around the house question.
It's a bit like the nature/nurture question in my opinion.

TWS

In reply to Chive Talkin\':


I agree. In this respect it differs from, say, skiing, which involves learning some counter-intuitive movements just to get going. I'm told golf is the same, though I can't comment personally. Doubtless there are others.

In reply to lone:

Of course climbing is instinctive, it is deeply engrained from our monkey past.

Thats why I'm so crap at it, no prehensile tail.....

In reply to lone:

>unlike humans who had to learn how to use tools.

I think you used a bad example. Using tools is our niche as humans, no other species on earth use them to the extent we do. Tools are what set us apart from all other living creatures we know. The complexity of our tools has obviously increased, which means they are not always naturally intuitive . As a species the use of tools is ingrained in everything we do and I don't think that is a coincidence.

In reply to Andy Long:


Not knowing can only be a good thing...

In reply to lone:

It's interesting to think about how ingrained climbing is. I imagine it's far more ingrained in some people than others. Adam Ondra said he felt climbing was in his genetic code. I've heard a genetic basis for some sports has been found. BASE jumpers typically have 11 copies of on particular gene apparently. So it seems feasible to think there might be something similar for climbers, maybe something from our tree dwelling ape past perhaps.

In reply to stp:


Are you sure about that?

In reply to lone:



Given the young chap's age, I'd say this looks about HVS: youtube.com/watch?v=DZt4n3lh8lQ&

In reply to aln:
It was asserted by one guy in the documentary The Search for Freedom. He sounded very sure and it seems like a very specific finding but beyond that I don't know.