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> Some dolphins have more than twice the number of neurons we do. Larger animals have more neurons because they have a larger surface area (full of sensors, th
by gumby 3y ago
> Some dolphins have more than twice the number of neurons we do.
Larger animals have more neurons because they have a larger surface area (full of sensors, that need to terminate someplace).
Some animals have noses with very large surface area (lots of sensors). I suspect surface area of my Irish Wolfhound's nose is something like the size of a football pitch.
I'd bet dolphins, seals, and the like have a lot more sensors/cm2 of skin than humans, and probably other important sensing as well that we don't need.
Unlike, say, octopus, I'd expect the higher order reasoning of mammals to use structures somewhat similar to each other. I doubt think dolphins' brains devote much of those extra neurons to higher order reason (but this is speculation -- I'm no cetaceanologist, nor neurologist for that matter).
> I bet they've got some interesting things to say.
Probably much less than the average human, and that's a pretty low bar, even with a generous definition of "interesting"
- nine_k 3y agoFind out how dolphins sleep. They must have profound enough differences in how they experience consciousness, however you define it. (This makes the prospects of talking to them all the more interesting.)
- engineer_22 3y ago>I'd bet dolphins, seals, and the like have a lot more sensors/cm2 of skin than humans, and probably other important sensing as well that we don't need. That's interesting. For what reason should we presume sensors/cm2 is higher in aquatic than terrestrial species? Is sensation of flow across the skin very important to them? I was thinking about this myself and presumed the opposite, that proprioception is important but feeling each portion of the skin isnt so important, after all sensation across the skin for a swimming animal would be unending, like tinnitus for a man. Good thinking and glad we could connect.
- yencabulator 3y agoAnimals can detect prey/predators by sensing water pressure changes from their movement. Some water-based animals can detect electric impulses from muscles of their prey/predators. Here's some introductory text about shark senses: https://www.sharktrust.org/shark-senses https://www.sharktrust.org/shark-senses
- engineer_22 3y ago> Probably much less than the average human, and that's a pretty low bar, even with a generous definition of "interesting" In the open ocean, an environment so foreign to us, we might not have a good sense for what /is/ interesting. Perhaps tactics is interesting to dolphins. Perhaps social equity is of chief importance, or they control technology related to the moving of currents and surface waters, we won't know unless we can place ourselves in their position, else its speculation. Again, quite interesting and glad you've shared your ideas, hope we can connect.
- xeonmc 3y agoI wonder how much of the dolphin’s brain is dedicated to hardware-accelerated spatial FFT for echolocation, like how humans have mostly hardware-accelerated facial detection. Maybe most of their “language” isn’t syntactic but rather in the form of acoustic holograms.
- tleilaxu 3y ago>Maybe most of their “language” isn’t syntactic but rather in the form of acoustic holograms. Whether this turns out to be right or wrong, that is such an interesting thought!