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Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

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Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#141

Post by scotty79 »

seldo wrote: post #33
bitwize wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SETI is not misguided. We've known for a long time that Earth was hospitable to intelligent life (us). That there are other species with similar levels of intelligent just makes Earth more awesome. But it would be a complete mindfuck if we found other intelligent life in space, where before there were mainly only stars, rocks, and interesting formations of liquid and gas somewhere in between. It would change everythi…

The thing about SETI is that it is not really a search for intelligent life, it's a search for "intelligent life that broadcasts radio waves of a frequency and power that we can detect in a pattern and on a timescale similar enough to our own communications that we can recognize it". Fermi's paradox basically boils down to: if intelligent life is at all common, it should be everywhere we look, and yet we don't see an…

I think SETI will be much more fruitful once we master neutrinos for communication.

Radio waves are probably in the same bucket of technologies as smoke signals for civilizations few hundreds years more advanced than us.

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#142

Post by polymatter »

ekianjo wrote: post #102
alan_cx wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because he doesn't equate "intelligence" with "good".

Any supporting evidence ?

Intelligence[1] "the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills"

Good[2] "that which is morally right; righteousness"

Intelligence relates to an ability to do something, Good (in this context) relates to a moral judgement. They may be related in that to do Good you may need Intelligence, but its conceivable that someone could have Intelligence but may not be Good, or vice versa.

[1](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/intelligenc...)

[2](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/good?q=good)

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#143

Post by scotty79 »

noonespecial wrote: post #54
stcredzero wrote: post #43

> Bottlenose dolphins call out the specific names of loved ones when they become separated, a study finds. ...Holy, f^~kin crap! We've been in the presence of other sentients this whole time. Enslaved them. Killed them while gathering food. Holy, f^~kin crap!

Its an uneasy thought to have that sentience might not be a binary function that humans have and other species lack. It might be a continuum. Some animals are far more sentient than others. Its followed closely by the even more uncomfortable thought that this might vary greatly inside the species. Finally this eerie train of thought pulls into the last station and you think that if the above is true than its almost c…

I totally agree on non-binary sentience. I think level of sentience correlates with capacity to experience dreams. I think cats and dogs and even smaller animals are somewhat sentient because they dream.

What's more interesting, what level of sentience could be achieved with brain that has lot more power than human brain?

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#144

Post by scotty79 »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #55

Because I ended up doing a bit of reading about dolphins earlier this week, I thought I'd share a bit of trivia in this thread: dolphins also have prehensile penises. (Like an elephant's nose) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1... And they're also not-very-nice (Tongue firmly in cheek here. Of course animals do not possess human qualities like "nice" or "asinine") http://deepseanews.com/2013/02/…

I think we eat them not the other way around only because underwater is a crappy place to develop multi-generational culture. You need surfaces you can draw your symbols on and appendages that can manipulate things while looking at them.

I don't feel that I'm member of the best species on earth. Just the one that is ahead in the race but only by a very thin margin. Fortunately we reached "writing" and "science" checkpoints first which means that we effectively won.

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#145

Post by [deleted] »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #105

Any thread on dolphins is not complete without a link to the 1992 NYT article on dolphins: [ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/18/science/dolphin-courtship-... ] Here's the sad part: none of this is new. 1992. 1992. Over twenty years ago. As children they make a best friend for life, they form complicated alliances for mutual benefit, they form political alliances/gangs, they help each other out both tit-for-tat and "pr…

[deleted]

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#146

Post by cynical2 »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #105

Any thread on dolphins is not complete without a link to the 1992 NYT article on dolphins: [ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/18/science/dolphin-courtship-... ] Here's the sad part: none of this is new. 1992. 1992. Over twenty years ago. As children they make a best friend for life, they form complicated alliances for mutual benefit, they form political alliances/gangs, they help each other out both tit-for-tat and "pr…

Any thread on dolphins teeming with the usual tripe about their intelligence, playfulness, peacefulness, and near parity (if not outright superiority) with humanity is not complete without mentioning their tendency to commit infanticide and kill other marine mammals for fun:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3323070/Killer-do...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1689180/

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#147

Post by darkchasma »

cynical2 wrote: post #146
ComputerGuru wrote: post #105

Any thread on dolphins is not complete without a link to the 1992 NYT article on dolphins: [ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/18/science/dolphin-courtship-... ] Here's the sad part: none of this is new. 1992. 1992. Over twenty years ago. As children they make a best friend for life, they form complicated alliances for mutual benefit, they form political alliances/gangs, they help each other out both tit-for-tat and "pr…

Any thread on dolphins teeming with the usual tripe about their intelligence, playfulness, peacefulness, and near parity (if not outright superiority) with humanity is not complete without mentioning their tendency to commit infanticide and kill other marine mammals for fun: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3323070/Killer-do... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1689180/

I'm confused, you use the term tripe, as to say it's misleading about their intellect or parity, and yet give two more examples on how similar they are to humans.

We, as humans, are peaceful, playful, intelligent, and vicious and sadistic murderers.

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#148

Post by StavrosK »

aendruk wrote: post #84
felideon wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently, dolphin trainers have the ability to whistle their names: "Her name was really Cathy. Well, not really. Her real name was [whistles]."[1] [1] http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/16/filmmakers_activists_t...

54:33

Thank you.

Re: Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

#150

Post by ceejayoz »

yesbabyyes wrote: post #38
weavejester wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SETI is about finding alien signals, not necessarily understanding them. However, it's likely that any extraterrestrial intelligence capable of sending out signals powerful enough to reach us, will have an understanding of science and mathematics, which is more than we have in common with dolphins.

That sounds very intriguing. However, it's likely that any extraterrestrial intelligence capable of maintaining life on it's home planet, will have an understanding of their fellow life forms, which is more than we have.

> However, it's likely that any extraterrestrial intelligence capable of maintaining life on it's home planet, will have an understanding of their fellow life forms, which is more than we have.

That's quite the assumption. Right now, our sample size of one shows the opposite.

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