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Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

digitaltrends.com

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Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#42
every small step toward recognizing intelligence of others is a great leap for humanity. I think before human species is able to move any further in its development, the first step it must to make is to step out of the "i'm the top of the God's creation" closet.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/132650631/new-language-discove... :

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So he devised a test. He had four (human) volunteers walk through a prairie dog village, and he dressed all the humans exactly the same — except for their shirts. Each volunteer walked through the community four times: once in a blue shirt, once in a yellow, once in green and once in gray.

He found, to his delight, that the calls broke down into groups based on the color of the volunteer's shirt. "I was astounded," says Slobodchikoff. But what astounded him even more, was that further analysis revealed that the calls also clustered based on other characteristics, like the height of the human. "Essentially they were saying, 'Here comes the tall human in the blue,' versus, 'Here comes the short human in the yellow,' " says Slobodchikoff.

Amazingly, it doesn't stop there. Slobodchikoff's next move was to see if prairie dogs could differentiate between abstract shapes. So he and his students built two wooden towers on each side of a prairie dog village. They then made cardboard cutouts of circles, squares and triangles and ran them out along a wire strung between the two towers, so the shapes sort of floated through the village about three feet from the ground. And the prairie dogs, Slobodchikoff found, were able to tell the difference between the triangle and the circle, but, alas, they made no mention of the difference between the square and the circle.

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I wonder how aliens analyze our intelligence:

- sent round blue flying saucer - a lot of buzz

- sent stick-looking device http://abcnews.go.com/International/ufo-china-closes-airport... - a lot of the same buzz.

Conclusion: probably the humans can't distinguish the abstract shapes.

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#43
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A part of me feels like conscious, sentient beings should have equal protection under the law. Just because they don't encode knowledge in written language or make tools like we do doesn't mean that they may be any less sentient.

So, which part of you doesn't feel that conscious and sentient beings ought to have equal protection?

Eh, reasonable. I suppose I meant that I care about it enough to post something on the internet, but only about that much. That's what part of me cares.

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#44

Did anyone see the recently circulating video of the cat on the dock interacting with dolphins. Including repeated and extended nuzzling and no signs of aggression. I immediate thought that, in part, the dolphins might be attracted by, intrigued by the cat's probably purring, sensing it through their jaws. But there seems to be a patience and curiosity there that speaks to significantly more than mere "animal instinc…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynvewVe21Y

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#45
post #44

Did anyone see the recently circulating video of the cat on the dock interacting with dolphins. Including repeated and extended nuzzling and no signs of aggression. I immediate thought that, in part, the dolphins might be attracted by, intrigued by the cat's probably purring, sensing it through their jaws. But there seems to be a patience and curiosity there that speaks to significantly more than mere "animal instinc…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynvewVe21Y

I saw a different edit of the same event. From that, I didn't realize it was at a marine theme park. It also didn't include the animals' startled reactions.

Still, interesting. And goes to show, cats are real charmers -- when they want to be. ;-)

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#46
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will they say when we finally understand them? "Took you long enough." I don't believe that communication between dolphins and trainers has been strictly one way. I'm pretty sure a trainer can easily read a lot from a dolphin's actions, sounds, etc. And keep in mind, the other great apes are wicked smart, like smarter then small human children smart, way smarter then the smartest dog, but still not smart enough…

What they did say was more like this: http://www.koko.org/world/talk_aol.html

I always think Alex the grey parrot is impressive too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KvPN_Wt8I

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#47

every small step toward recognizing intelligence of others is a great leap for humanity. I think before human species is able to move any further in its development, the first step it must to make is to step out of the "i'm the top of the God's creation" closet. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/132650631/new-language-discove... : --------------- So he devised a test. He had four (human) volunteers walk through a prairie…

I would expect aliens capable of interstellar travel would have better metrics than "buzz" :]

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#48

every small step toward recognizing intelligence of others is a great leap for humanity. I think before human species is able to move any further in its development, the first step it must to make is to step out of the "i'm the top of the God's creation" closet. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/132650631/new-language-discove... : --------------- So he devised a test. He had four (human) volunteers walk through a prairie…

I would expect aliens capable of interstellar travel would have better metrics than "buzz" :]

of course, they would be looking for fine structured mental field waveforms that they would expect us, like any sentient species, to naturally produce ... and i guess they are still waiting for us to generate the waveforms

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#49
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The part that fears a warlike alien civilization.

Our laws already cope with warlike human civilizations, why would an alien one be any different from an equal protection standpoint?

Potential inability to understand or communicate with them in a (perceived) kill or be killed situation.

Re: Translation technology may let humans speak with dolphins

#50

every small step toward recognizing intelligence of others is a great leap for humanity. I think before human species is able to move any further in its development, the first step it must to make is to step out of the "i'm the top of the God's creation" closet. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/132650631/new-language-discove... : --------------- So he devised a test. He had four (human) volunteers walk through a prairie…

the first step it must to make is to step out of the "i'm the top of the God's creation" closet

I want to give you 100 of my own karma points. I just do not know where this believe that we are better comes from. [This is totally hypocritical coming from me since I eat meat. Nevertheless]

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