- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.smeargle.fans
- hackernews@derp.foo
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.smeargle.fans
- hackernews@derp.foo
Scientists Have Reported a Breakthrough In Understanding Whale Language::Researchers have identified new elements of whale vocalizations that they propose are analogous to human speech, including vowels and pitch.
Sokath, his eyes uncovered.
Temba. His arms wide.
Kadir beneath Mo Moteh.
I’m too drunk to taste this chicken
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!
what does this reference
It’s such a good commentary on language, how we understand it.
Not only did the AI predict elements of whale vocalizations already thought to be meaningful, such as clicks, but it also singled out acoustic properties.
This is an amazing use of machine learning models.
Can’t wait for them to tell us to stop being fuckheads and ruining the planet
“So long and thanks for all the fish”
Imagine if we managed to make a translator for the speech of an animal, knowing what they say and being able to say something back. Literally speaking with animals. That would have been so amazing and revolutionizing.
Honestly? We’d just fuck it all up, and find some way to exploit it.
If they could, the first words they speak to us would likely be akin to “Fuck you!”, or “Just what the fuck exactly is wrong with you people?”
I mean, would animals necessarily make a distinction between humans and other types of predatory or dangerous animal, understand exactly what our impact on their habitat actually is (something like warming temperatures would be hard to associate with us if you didn’t know about human co2 emissions or the greenhouse effect, for instance), and understand that our technology is an extension of our control and not some other, strange symbiotic creature? Considering whales have no technology of their own and therefore probably very little understanding of the concept, they might not realize things like ships and fishing boats are entirely our doing and not some massive surface creature that eats all the fish, that land dwelling creatures like us live on top of like barnacles. And assuming they do understand what our ships are, they might hate or fear us from passed down stories of whalers, or encounters with those whaling ships that still exist, but would they think of us much differently than how they’d think of other predators to whales, like orcas?
They might think the boats have trapped us like they trap whales and fish, they probably want to team up against the menace
Yeah, exploitation like this is a big concern in the digital bioacoustics community with groups like Earth Species Project.
You saying this group is good or bad? It would certainly be transformative to hear what the animals are saying, an ancient fantasy of humankind, magic.
So far as I know they are great, I mean it is a concern of theirs. They do some cool stuff, they have a fairly active discord with quite a bit in it.
“Do you think the human chattering means anything?”
First translation
Here is an elephant translator:
https://www.helloinelephant.com/
I dont think its great or anything, a bit of a gimmick. Really, the most decoded animal language is probably prairie dogs, but I’ve not heard of anyone trying to make a translator for it.
Hell yeah, I hope it works for orcas too so I can thank the ones that have been trashing the yachts.
How do I say “I support my seafaring cetacean brethren” in Orca?
I’m learning how to sail right now. It would be great to have that sorted out before I make my way by Gibraltar.
Huge rock, can’t miss it.
Follow the stars and don’t look down
Don’t blast heavy metal.
So what I’m hearing is they can literally talk to each other in a way that we do and we still kill them constantly.
We kill humans constantly too, and we probably obliterated the rest of the hominins also. I’m just saying we have a chequered track record.
Are we the baddies?
While I always love a Mitchell and Webb reference, I can say I don’t think so. I think the book Humanity by Rutger Bregman is a good reminder that we are mostly good.
Agreed. It’s just that it’s really easy for a small amount of people to do a lot of bad things. It’s hard to maintain, harder to build, and easy to destroy.
Is this you?
Yep. Back left, trying hard not to sexualize Annie.
However take in context that it’s written by a human. Of course we will say we’re mostly good. If Pol Pot wrote a book about Pol Pot he’d probably say he was mostly good too.
I share this understanding with you and this is why I say that AI will absolutely kill us because that is what we would do. It’s trained on our data afterall.
I guess, but it feels to me like wiping out a species close to our intelligence is worse that killing each other.
This is big news! We’ve got a lemmy community specifically about Digital Bioacoustics (technology and animal communication) for anyone interested.
Oooh, look! The translation’s coming through!!
Thanks… for… all… the…
…
For what? Thanks for all the what?!
Ovaltine
Obama?
Fuck, you people are everywhere, hunh?
This is what I came here for
Fish
“I wish I could speak whale!” - Dory
Oooooooookayyyyyyy
They probably have nothing interesting to say anyway. After a year or two all the scientists will be like “I fucking know you like krill, whale. Shut the fuck up about the krill already”.
[Arthur Dent] learned to communicate with birds and discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios, and a fair bit about berries.
– Douglas Adams, 'Life, the Universe, and Everything.
I kind of still want to know what I’m sleeping to.
Horny whale noises
“Can I try putting it in your blowhole this time?”
No Frank, idw Whale cum in my lung again.
To a whale, whale cum is just regular cum.
Inspirational Quote Of The Day
/subscribe
“So Long, and thanks for all the fish”
Gracie is pregnant.
Uh-oh. Risa’s leaking again.
Alameda… Nuclear vessels.
“Wessles.” FTFY
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=sf8rDpu1vCk&t=1m14s
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
How did you know Gracie’s pregnant? Nobody knows that!
Gracie does.
If complete mutually intelligible communication of complex ideas with another species is undeniably proven, that will be a massive boon for veganism(although of course not all animals are equal), and a legal quagmire. What do you do if they are suffering in ways that we can fix due to their environment? Like humans were, and then we changed our environment. Do you give whales weapons so they can defend themselves from orcas? Do you shoot whale pochers? Do you shoot orcas attacking whales? Do you farm krill for them to eat? Do you drastically alter the ocean surface to be more comfortable for whales?
After all, most people recognize it as good to alter a person’s natural state(hunting and gathering from caves) for the better, so would that not be the same for animals that are considered essentially people or near-people?
We don’t even treat other humans on earth with dignity and respect and you think anything will change for whales as drastically as you propose? Maybe I’m mega jaded but I see this having little impact.
Last time I checked you don’t eat abstract linguistic concepts.
Abstract linguistic concepts ensure you can eat.
Nobody said anything about complex ideas. Maybe they just said. “food here”
Speaking to animals would be cool but I doubt they’d have much to share other than basic instincts.
Nobody said anything about complex ideas.
Well actually having a language allows way more complex ideas than ever communicated with an animal before
What is this idea about not eating non-humans I communicate with. I speak with my plants too and they entertain complex thought. Do I have to stop eating them? There is nothing out there that isn’t a person. Continue eating as you see fit and be kind to the living.
Speaking to something doesn’t mean it understands and reacts to it.
Speaking is an act of changing reality, always. If you want to go as far as calling this ‘speaking to’ is up to you.
They been talking to Dory?
This was my favorite episode of Extrapolations!
One of mine too. It’s a little scary seeing the things they got right so far.
It wasn’t a great show and I didn’t binge watch it, but I’m glad I ignored all the hate about it I read eventually. I really liked the drone defection plotline and the whale episode I feel is up there with some of the best Black Mirror stuff.
There was very much morale ambiguity of the “good” characters as well, it wasn’t all pro-environmentalist guys are all heroes, there was definitely eco-terrorism.
I agree, it had its ups and downs, but on the whole it made me contemplate on things from many perspectives, and I think (and hope) that that was ultimately the goal of the creators as well. It certainly seemed to be.
Very few things I’ve watched have given me the same …vibe, so to speak. I have been to India and that episode felt very … authentic, for a lack of a better word.
In my opinion it’s a bit sad it didn’t get all that much recognition, but it also wasn’t the easiest series to watch at times.
Seeing the story play out over the span of a few decades really hit home about how long we’ve let this stuff go on already and how long it can take for people to change views and seek justice. We just need to do all we can and keep trying to set the example.
Being the main contributor of !superbowl@lemmy.world, my feeds get full of environmental destruction and habitat and species loss, and it’s tough to filter through all that every day looking for positive stories.
I agree there too. Finding the fine line between staying informed and going nuts from all the negative stuff has forced me to step back at times, just for the sake of staying sane.
My Avatar whale dream might actually become a reality
Soooo this totally not going to go wrong by the military or a mad scientist?
I feel like I saw this movie.