Clever Hans, Part 1: The Equine Mathematician
Ridiculous History
English - July 28, 2020 21:47 - 30 minutes - 28.4 MB - ★★★★ - 4.1K ratingsHistory Society & Culture Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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Next Episode: Clever Hans, Part 2: The Rise and Fall of Hans
Back in the early 20th century, retired teacher Wilhelm von Osten had a dream -- to exhibit the gifts of his brilliant horse, Clever Hans, to the world. Wilhelm believed Hans was capable of solving pretty advanced math problems, working out the sums in his head and communicating them to humans through a system of hooftaps. And Clever Hans took the German public by storm -- what could this mean? If animals like Hans were this intelligent, could they also have a consciousness or a soul? Some people were over the moon about Hans... and others remained unconvinced.
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