Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals • Hacker News Board

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#21

Post by ikeyany » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

sethbannon wrote: post #17

Listening to these remarkable recordings, I can't help but think that as time goes on, more and more of the artificial mental barriers we've built between us and non-human animals will fall. I hope with more research humanity stops seeing non-human animals as resources to be exploited but rather as sentient beings to be respected.

Those barriers are certainly falling. The campaign to end the live boiling of lobsters and crabs [1] is underway due to our findings that crustaceans can feel pain.

[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42873644

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#22

Post by kajecounterhack » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

blondie9x wrote: post #12

Whales are intelligent. They should not be killed by humans who mask the activities as scientific research. Japan is a great country and a leader on many levels. I speak Japanese. I enjoy Japanese food and culture. The people are very kind and considerate. There are some who are concerned if you stop killing whales you must stop killing fish and other forms of sustenance. This is not the case. The difference is whale…

>The difference is whales are not sustenance and are not something most Japanese would eat or enjoy to eat.

Wow this is presumptuous, whale meat has a long history in Japan and whales have been used for sustenance for a long time. That they should not be sustenance is your opinion.

Pigs are intelligent too. Unfortunately eating animals in general is fraught with moral quandary. Please stop making blanket statements about other peoples' cultures.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#23

Post by mrkstu » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

blondie9x wrote: post #12

Whales are intelligent. They should not be killed by humans who mask the activities as scientific research. Japan is a great country and a leader on many levels. I speak Japanese. I enjoy Japanese food and culture. The people are very kind and considerate. There are some who are concerned if you stop killing whales you must stop killing fish and other forms of sustenance. This is not the case. The difference is whale…

Agreed. I chimed in on an earlier article supporting eating meat- but higher mammals are a special case.

Dolphins/Whales should be in the same category as Elephants and Apes. They are beings with complex social structures and individual personalities. They are not prey or husbandry animals, but apex animals.

David Brin's Uplift novels make this point very well- these are our fellow travelers on the road to sentience. We just go there first. Eating these animals is brushing right up against cannibalism to me.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#24

Post by irrational » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

ickwabe wrote: post #15

blondie9x wrote: post #12

Whales are intelligent. They should not be killed by humans who mask the activities as scientific research. Japan is a great country and a leader on many levels. I speak Japanese. I enjoy Japanese food and culture. The people are very kind and considerate. There are some who are concerned if you stop killing whales you must stop killing fish and other forms of sustenance. This is not the case. The difference is whale…

Agreed. As should Norway and Iceland.

I feel the same way about horses. They serve horse steaks in Iceland (and probably other places) which I find equally as barbaric.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#25

Post by lerie82 » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:40 PM UTC

They are simply mimicking noise, it's not like they are evolving, this is very old news, didn't dolphins and whales do this in the 70's? It's a reach for publicity.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#26

Post by nxsynonym » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:42 PM UTC

kajecounterhack wrote: post #22

blondie9x wrote: post #12

Whales are intelligent. They should not be killed by humans who mask the activities as scientific research. Japan is a great country and a leader on many levels. I speak Japanese. I enjoy Japanese food and culture. The people are very kind and considerate. There are some who are concerned if you stop killing whales you must stop killing fish and other forms of sustenance. This is not the case. The difference is whale…

>The difference is whales are not sustenance and are not something most Japanese would eat or enjoy to eat. Wow this is presumptuous, whale meat has a long history in Japan and whales have been used for sustenance for a long time. That they should not be sustenance is your opinion. Pigs are intelligent too. Unfortunately eating animals in general is fraught with moral quandary. Please stop making blanket statements a…

Intelligence aside, I see a difference between actively depleting a population and farming animals as a resource.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#27

Post by knownothing » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:43 PM UTC

gadders wrote: post #13

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I YouTubed this. The speech is surprisingly clear and sounds human.

He was a pretty good mimic. I just watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfqiEGYEQoQ and you have to watch the seal to make sure that is him talking and not the crowd.

Interesting. If I was a sailor hundreds of years ago and witnessed something like that I might think it was a merman.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#28

Post by digi_owl » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:48 PM UTC

ickwabe wrote: post #15

blondie9x wrote: post #12

Whales are intelligent. They should not be killed by humans who mask the activities as scientific research. Japan is a great country and a leader on many levels. I speak Japanese. I enjoy Japanese food and culture. The people are very kind and considerate. There are some who are concerned if you stop killing whales you must stop killing fish and other forms of sustenance. This is not the case. The difference is whale…

Agreed. As should Norway and Iceland.

Last time i checked, Norway and Iceland enforce strict regulations to make sure the population is sustainable.

That Japan allows boats to roam to far waters without punishment is very different.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#29

Post by wizardforhire » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:50 PM UTC

(Devils advocate here disclaimer) but imagine you're an isolated island with no large mammal population and pick a date long ago. Food is scarce and the ocean is large and these huge things are ripe but difficult for the taking. One is enough to feed a village for the better part of year... And when you eat it, it tastes like steak! A food you've never even contemplated existing! Add to that a rich cultural tradition that resists change and encourages strong dogmatic adherence that persists through the ages and is only bolstered through geographic isolation... And yeah I can see the Japanese's strong dedication to whale meat. Doesn't mean I like whaleing in the least or even agree with it but I can understand to some degree the difficulty of change and it must change. I also don't agree with these attempts at whale farming in Oklahoma. Whales are intelligent empathetic creatures who can most definitely feel pain and a whole host of other complex emotions. Only the most dense of us humans could advocate for their continued use as a food source.

Re: Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

#30

Post by dorchadas » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

irrational wrote: post #24

ickwabe wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. As should Norway and Iceland.

I feel the same way about horses. They serve horse steaks in Iceland (and probably other places) which I find equally as barbaric.

The difference for me is that horses can be (and are) domesticated and raised for their meat. Nor are they necessarily endangered. If you find horsemeat barbaric, what about beef or chicken or pork? What about deer?