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RE: Communication with Unmotivated Dolphins: Intelligence Part 4
I thought I posted a comment here, but somehow lost it. To sort of repeat: I think dolphins are bored with us because they don't care about the universe of things that interest us. I don't think the issue is merely one of mechanics. It may be culture. Of course they're not interested in typing. We keep inviting them onto our terrain, to play with our toys. We may be framing the communication experiment from a narrow point of view--ours. Dolphins are nice, and patient. But even their patience has its limit. They get bored and return to more dolphin-relevant activities.
I always wonder if dolphins think we're silly :)
There definitely is a growing acceptance in studies of animal intelligence that we have been too narrow in definitions of what is intelligence, and what is intelligent behaviour. It is definitely helpful to look at things from the dolphin point of view. To them we must look like slow terrible swimmers who can only communicate by clumsy body language. I am excited by the possibility of using AI to decode their language and speak it back to them. That would make us a lot more interesting to the dolphins!
Delightful! We definitely need a more culturally neutral bridge. Maybe AI can do it. I have been reading about bee intelligence, and see that we run into the same kind of perspective block. I mean, they are so smart, and to us they're just invertebrates. My next blog, I think.
I love the respect you have for dolphins and their integrity as something apart, but not beneath us.