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Dolphins recorded having a conversation, evidence of highly developed spoken language
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Huw_Dawson
Member
Does this prove sentience?
Philosophically, if dolphins were proven to be as intelligent as humans - or perhaps, a human and a dolphin have a provable conversation - this blows open an incredibly deep moral question about the world around us. Namely, a hugely important question of ownership, and an equally important question about rights.
Q: If a scientist group decodes the language of a dolphin pod and holds a conversation with them, demonstrating human-level sentience, does that grant that dolphin pod, or all dolphins, rights and protections comparable to a human (e.g. we must treat a human killing a dolphin as as bad as a human murdering a human?)?
A: ??????????
I don't think we as a species have the philosophical understanding to even begin to broach that question. It leads straight to arguments that break down modern agriculture, for one...
Philosophically, if dolphins were proven to be as intelligent as humans - or perhaps, a human and a dolphin have a provable conversation - this blows open an incredibly deep moral question about the world around us. Namely, a hugely important question of ownership, and an equally important question about rights.
Q: If a scientist group decodes the language of a dolphin pod and holds a conversation with them, demonstrating human-level sentience, does that grant that dolphin pod, or all dolphins, rights and protections comparable to a human (e.g. we must treat a human killing a dolphin as as bad as a human murdering a human?)?
A: ??????????
I don't think we as a species have the philosophical understanding to even begin to broach that question. It leads straight to arguments that break down modern agriculture, for one...
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
MrChocolate
Member
And the glorious American culture will announce that dolphins are in possesion of WMDs and the US army will procede to invade the corrupt ocean.
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tl;dr: Was really needed that comment?
The Albatross
Member
came to post this
-Plasma Reus-
Service guarantees member status
Imagine if we could recruit Dolphins to save lives.
Also, y'all fucked up. Remember that researcher who ended up getting sexually assaulted by a Dolphin? Cause she kept getting too close. You form a bond with them and they'll assume you want them to fuck you.
Also, y'all fucked up. Remember that researcher who ended up getting sexually assaulted by a Dolphin? Cause she kept getting too close. You form a bond with them and they'll assume you want them to fuck you.
SymbiantXenos
Member
So long and thanks for all the fish.
jufonuk
not tag worthy
I got that reference, I better get my towel
PdotMichael
Banned
That aren't even dolphins.
Well, they can pass more information with sound than we can. They not only have a much, much wider hearing spectrum (like six or seven times wider than ours), they can also produce a much wider spectrum of sound, including the ability to reshape their sonar envelope using an acoustic lens in their melon. They can also see through sand and skin with their sonar, as well as being able to stun small prey with it, when they fire a tightly focused beam of 220 decibel sound at them.
The Artisan
Member
they can still evolve.
Or we could uplift them. Might be neat.
Do to them what the ancient aliens did to us!
Into what? LVL 2 talking Tuna Pizza?
WordAssassin
Member
They're just waiting.
Humans are melting the polar ice caps, filling the earth with more water. Soon we'll all be extinct and the Reign of the Dolphin will begin.
It's all going according to EEE EE EEEEE EEE EE click click
GrantDaNasty
Member
Basically, Whether you like Beethoven or Kanye's beats, they ain't shit to Dolphins. They're on a whole other level in terms of aural experiences.
the_batman
Banned
I'd bet they were arguing over how much to tip the fish delivery man.
Fascinating. I wonder if we'll ever be able to accurately translate it. U don't know anything about the study of languages, how do you even start without a common point of reference (like a Rosetta Stone)? Is it even possible to translate between two languages that don't have a common ancestor?
Incitemaybe
Member
I wonder what they'll say about how we conduct our everyday lives.
Pops Maellard
Member
I'm dying.
Version 3.0
Member
Yes, they are. Orcas are the largest of the dolphins.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale
As a former translator, it's an intriguing possibility to me. Obviously with another human, you can translate even with no common linguistic starting point, because it's fairly easy to communicate the desire to communicate via language. With that common ground, you simply start learning the words that mean things you see, or can pantomime. And you can probably communicate well enough to learn them correctly - ie. if your new friend points at a palm tree and says "xxxx", does that mean "tree" or "palm" or "coconut" or "food"? You can narrow it down with further interaction.
Without a dolphin that understands the desire to communicate, it's so much harder. Even if we can pick out a sound and decide it's a word referring to a fish the dolphin just saw, does it mean any fish, or "halibut", or "food", or "fast", or whatever? Or do they even think similarly enough for those categories to apply? Maybe it meant "small moving object that I detected with sonar but not visually".
It's an interesting challenge. I hope the people working on it get funding.
Sleight of Jam
Banned
I'd like to ask them what they think of airline food.
It makes me sad to think how if we came across an oceanic planet and there were life forms like dolphins there with evidence of spoken language we'd treat said species with the utmost of respect, but with dolphins we hunt, kill and imprison them as if they were tunafish with no regard for their suffering.
Dolphins should be treated with, minimum, the same respect the western world treats dogs with. We don't hunt or eat dogs. We have dog shelters. We have an emotional bond with dogs. Dolphins deserve at least that much imo.
They also deserve a better NFL team.
Dolphins should be treated with, minimum, the same respect the western world treats dogs with. We don't hunt or eat dogs. We have dog shelters. We have an emotional bond with dogs. Dolphins deserve at least that much imo.
They also deserve a better NFL team.
Byakuya769
Member
Funyarinpa
Member
Took way too fucking long, lol. Douglas Adams was right all along.
PdotMichael
Banned
Joke didn't went through.
therealist
Member
If dolphins were that smart wouldn't they have done more by now? Obviously I don't know much about what dolphins do but don't they just spend the whole day swimming around and finding food to eat?
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
Perhaps the real smart ones left this planet millions of years ago and these are the ones left behind.
And_Gignac
Member
I don't think this form of communication can be equated to language (just because it's sound-based?), which implies culture, that dolphins seems to lack.
If you're asking why they aren't building cities or whatever, you have to remember that their anatomy isn't great for tool use. Also human civilization is a relatively recent thing in the history of our species. We didn't invent written language and agriculture overnight once we reached a certain level of intelligence.
Vital Tundra
Member
The idea of another animal having true language is crazy. I can't wait for the day we can decipher it.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
I thought this had been known for a while?
Byakuya769
Member
Assumed and posited. Never really demonstrated other than circumstantially.
Version 3.0
Member
I hate to tell you this, but I don't think this is a safe assumption.
Huw_Dawson
Member
Or whether they should clap after eating.
Westerners are probably ok when Dolphins become our new overlords, but the Japanese and the Faroe Island citizens are screwed.
also why is it objectively better to start civilisations & spend thousands of years killing each other, destroying the planet & arguing about how much to tip the delivery guy on the internet any better than chilling out all day, fuckin' and chasing after fish?
Cymbal Head
Banned
The dolphins and the corvids get together to attack us by air and sea, then divide the planet amongst themselves.
One thousand years of peace ensue.
One thousand years of peace ensue.
But they taste so good amirite.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
The complexity of their communication perhaps, but it seems this is the first time scientists are observing actual conversations taking place. It's pretty fascinating.
AlimNassor
Banned
Click bait article and everyon3 falls for it.
It's been known that they communicate in a general sense, calling each other by name and sending out warnings, etc. But this is the first time scientists have witnessed what looks and sounds like an actual conversation between two dolphins. That implies a much higher language development than originally was thought to be the case.
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