Whereas most races are content to evolve slowly and carefully over thousands of generations, discarding a prehensile toe here, nervously hazarding another nostril there, the Haggunenons would have done for Charles Darwin what a squadron of Arcturan Stunt Apples would have done for Sir Isaac Newton.
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41·13 days agoIf it requires a combination of an especially clever dog and a human that is willing to give an especially large amount of attention, then it may be tough to get enough controlled and studied instances of it happening in order for it to meet rigorous scientific standards. If this is the case, then I wonder if some sort of a setup that involves a private AI dog tutor that can give endless attention and is able to expertly watch and read the animal would be able to eventually help the dog make significant progress with a large enoughbl number of dogs to really have evidence one way or the other.
This looks neat! I don’t remember it at all, Thanks!
Oh yeah! These things are great. We’ve had a few posts in here about them. I know some people debate whether or not the dogs really understand what they are doing. Sometimes people will say that they are just filming so much and sharing the most impressive videos. I don’t know though, there are certainly some really convincing ones.
I wonder if anyone is working on any sort of AI tutor for dogs with this idea.
Yeah, it has been relatively untouched even by fiction. Star Trek IV has some in it. The series Made For Love as well, but not in a very series way. I’d love to know of more. Oh, the children’s movie UP has those headsets for talking dogs.
Totally not due to science or anything, but the comedy series Wilfred with Elijah Wood is fantastic and certainly involves human-animal conversation.
Yeah, for sure, there is always something to be learning. I’ve just left my computer for a month to try to decompress some. I’ve taken up card magic while away from it and have really been enjoying it. Even with no computer, I’m still so often on my phone, just tending more towards listening to things.
I’ve not been paying as much attention to the animal world as I was last year and the beginning of this year. For a while, I was making sure I read and shared at least one article or paper a day.
Seriously!! My reading list’s growth is badly outpacing my reading speed. I don’t see this problem going away either. It’s the same with podcasts, I download at least 5x more podcasts than what actually get around to listening to. I’m looking forward to a good AI audio podcast summary tool.
Yeah, An Immense World is definitely a great one. It’s still one of the best I’ve read in the last couple of years. I’d go for it over How To Speak Whale just for its well roundedness, it really made me think differently about the various ways different species may be experiencing the world.
Yeah, it’s a shame that wind farms are messing with whales. I hadn’t heard that about blue whale jaws, very interesting.
There is a good book by Tom Mustill called “How to Speak Whale”. It covers quite a bit of ceracean communication. It talks a bit about the work Roger Payne as well, which I believe we talked a out awhile back.
I haven’t heard anything about larger whales, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I have read that many beached dolphins are deaf. The oceans are so much louder now from boats and machinery that it is causing lots of issues for animals whose primary sense is hearing.
Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing it! I remember reading that bats need to avoid hearing damage from their own echolocation calls because they are so loud(although out of human hearing range). They are actually able to close their ears at the exact time thay they make the calls.
Thanks so much for sharing this! That game is crazy, I can’t imagine actually being good at it. Even with all the sounds right there, able to be played right next to each other in a controlled setting, it is super hard. I can’t imagine being able to recognize individuals from various distances out in the wild. It is remarkable how this is just a standard ability to so many animals.
4·2 months agoIs this what it looked like to your eyes, or is this the result of a night setting on your phone?
Maybe you would enjoy this radiolab podcast if you haven’t heard it before.