4 ms·

Will humans ever learn to speak whale?

12 points by billyharris 5y ago

akomtu 5y ago
Not sure about Morse codes, but whales are certainly able to encode images in sound - a kind of analog version of jpeg. https://www.cymascope.com/cetacean.html https://www.cymascope.com/cetacean.html
- stareatgoats 5y ago
  Interesting! here is an actual image of a man, purportedly derived from dolphin ultrasound: http://www.speakdolphin.com/news.cfm http://www.speakdolphin.com/news.cfm Unfortunately there doesn't seem to have been any development since 2016, which is weird.
  - mrfusion 5y ago
    I don’t understand if they picked up the image from reflections of the dolphins ultrasound or if the dolphin actually produced that image after the fact. The latter option would be incredible.
    - akomtu 5y ago
      They showed a man to a dolphin a recorded a sound the dolphin produced shortly after. Then they connected the recording to a high quality analog oscillator with a small water container on top and took a picture of the water surface. After some deblurring, they've got pretty accurate contour of that man.
      - mrfusion 5y ago
        Thanks. But did the reflections off the man create the image or did the dolphin create it after the man was gone?
        akomtu 5y ago
        I think it's the former: dolphins use echolocation to "take pictures" if the objects in front of them, encode the reflected echo into sound and transmit this sound to other dolphins.
        brokenmachine 5y ago
        I don't think they transmit it to other dolphins. They make the clicks and hear the reflections, and their brain uses that to know what's there. Interestingly some blind humans can do the same thing. There's no transmitting to other dolphins though.
stareatgoats 5y ago
Why not? It doesn't seem like an impossibility at all, i.e. that we would learn what meanings other species attach to sound patterns. Computing should make this a breeze ( eventually, not within the next year though)- which just might expose us to a few surprises regarding the capabilities of other species. To some extent we already understand a lot: quite a few birds use one song to to attract mates, another protect territory, and another to warn off intruders. The not unreasonable expectation is that a universal inter-species translator would reveal that the more intelligent animals (corvids, dolphins and whales, octopuses) convey a more nuanced meaning in their communication.
- nix23 5y ago
  >understand a lot: quite a few birds use one song to to attract mates One could say that even dogs understand us already much better.
McCune152 5y ago
It was very well authored and easy to understand. Unlike additional blogs I have read which are really not that good. https://www.telldunkin.me https://www.telldunkin.me

12 points by billyharris 5y ago

Not sure about Morse codes, but whales are certainly able to encode images in sound - a kind of analog version of jpeg. https://www.cymascope.com/cetacean.html https://www.cymascope.com/cetacean.html

stareatgoats 5y ago
Interesting! here is an actual image of a man, purportedly derived from dolphin ultrasound: http://www.speakdolphin.com/news.cfm http://www.speakdolphin.com/news.cfm Unfortunately there doesn't seem to have been any development since 2016, which is weird.
- mrfusion 5y ago
  I don’t understand if they picked up the image from reflections of the dolphins ultrasound or if the dolphin actually produced that image after the fact. The latter option would be incredible.
  - akomtu 5y ago
    They showed a man to a dolphin a recorded a sound the dolphin produced shortly after. Then they connected the recording to a high quality analog oscillator with a small water container on top and took a picture of the water surface. After some deblurring, they've got pretty accurate contour of that man.
    - mrfusion 5y ago
      Thanks. But did the reflections off the man create the image or did the dolphin create it after the man was gone?
      - akomtu 5y ago
        I think it's the former: dolphins use echolocation to "take pictures" if the objects in front of them, encode the reflected echo into sound and transmit this sound to other dolphins.
        brokenmachine 5y ago
        I don't think they transmit it to other dolphins. They make the clicks and hear the reflections, and their brain uses that to know what's there. Interestingly some blind humans can do the same thing. There's no transmitting to other dolphins though.

stareatgoats 5y ago

Why not? It doesn't seem like an impossibility at all, i.e. that we would learn what meanings other species attach to sound patterns. Computing should make this a breeze ( eventually, not within the next year though)- which just might expose us to a few surprises regarding the capabilities of other species. To some extent we already understand a lot: quite a few birds use one song to to attract mates, another protect territory, and another to warn off intruders. The not unreasonable expectation is that a universal inter-species translator would reveal that the more intelligent animals (corvids, dolphins and whales, octopuses) convey a more nuanced meaning in their communication.

nix23 5y ago
>understand a lot: quite a few birds use one song to to attract mates One could say that even dogs understand us already much better.

McCune152 5y ago

It was very well authored and easy to understand. Unlike additional blogs I have read which are really not that good. https://www.telldunkin.me https://www.telldunkin.me