Harry Harlow's experiment in the 21st century

graphite on paper 24" x 30"

   In our future, I hope we are not moving towards a social world which exchanges technology for direct human contact (...this I state as I ironically sit by myself at the computer and type up this post).  But if it is a choice of text message or nothing I suppose most would opt for the text.

   This scene might look slightly familiar to anyone who took a science or psychology class.  I would venture to say that those textbook photos evoke a reaction in most readers.  You can find some info on the 1950s Harry Harlow's experiments with baby rhesus monkeys & social isolation here (Harry Harlow).  I am not sure what definitive info was gained in doing them but it is clear that the costs upon its monkey participants were great.  From what I have read, these experiments led to questioning the ethics involved in the treatment of laboratory animals.  I don't think that such experiments would be permitted today, so thankfully this drawing is entirely fictional.

   On a side track, in regards to the subject of captive primates and social isolation, there is a recent documentary called Project Nim (http://www.project-nim.com/) which follows the life of a signing chimp named Nim and the effects that the human world had upon him.  Evidently not every signing primate has a life story like Koko the gorilla.