Will We Ever Understand What Animals Say?
How many times have you played with your pet dog and just wished that you could understand what he was trying to say to you? Or how many times did you want to understand the meaning behind a cat’s purr.
I am guessing, quite a few times. We all have thought about it at one time or the other. The power to understand animals and talk to them would be a really awesome one.
Plus it would open up an entirely new dimension of conversations where the poor little speechless creatures would be able to speak directly to us and tell us how they feel or what they want.
So, could it ever happen? Can science make it happen? We are already seeing real time, voice and image based translation of languages. Can the same be done with animals too?
Gavagai AB - Trying To Decipher Dolphin Language
I don’t know about other animals but the language of dolphins is trying to be deciphered by a Swedish language technology company called Gavagai AB.
It has always been believed that dolphins show some form of intelligence (their brain is the second most powerful brain after humans), so it is not far-fetched to believe that they may have a language of their own.
Gavagai AB certainly thinks so and it is teaming up with a research team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology with the aim of understanding and deciphering the language of dolphins with the help of their state of the art AI (artificial intelligence).
This is remarkably interesting because an AI is being used to analyse the sounds that the dolphins make and try and decode them for any patterns that may suggest that they indeed have conversations.
Also, if the project is successful, they will take this one step further and try to compile a dictionary of the dolphin language. Isn’t that just out of this world? The first dictionary of animal language!
What’s next?
The major question here is, if the team can do this for dolphins, can they do it for other animals that show at least some signs of intelligence and what about those that don’t?
Also, can it help us converse with intelligent alien beings if they showed up one day? For such a thing to happen, either we would need to come up with a “universal language” or be able to quickly analyse and translate any given language in real time. Now, that is super futuristic and literally sci-fi at this point.
Movies like “Arrival” show that language is at the core of how things would play out in such situations and it would be better for us if we could communicate to them that we come in peace or hear them say it first. That would at least subdue some fear!
This is just one of the examples of how technology will change the world in the future and empower us to do things that we can’t even imagine doing today. These are really exciting times to be alive.
I read about an app that is supposed to help figure out what an infant wants by the sounds that it makes. If this is not complete malarkey, the number of sounds a dog makes can't be very much more. I think a cat makes about double the number of sounds that a dog does, but still, not that many.
John Lilly has written about talking to dolphins, along with Patrick Flanagan. in the early 1970's.
It is quite interesting where this team will go into this entirely new dimension of exploration that they have set themselves on. Only time will tell.
I recently watched a pretty neat documentary about cats that said their language is different with different humans. So what my cat says to indicate hunger will be different from what my neighbor's says.
Of course everything my cat says means one of two things: "Ham" or "Mine."
My cat has a decent vocabulary. I'm sure I could teach a speech recognition program to interpret for him, but if it varies from cat to cat, there's no point, because I will have to learn one cat at a time. I already know what my cat is saying, mostly.
I am sure that my cat can read my mind and that my dog understands me perfectly! He is still a puppy but he knows exactly when he has done something wrong :) I will however not even try to play Dr Doolittle as I might misinterpret what they say. My cat however comes and fetch me when she is hungry so they have their own way of communicating with us.
Indeed! They have a way of communicating of their own and even though we find out that they don't communicate mainly by language, we will gain a deeper understanding of what they mean when they do a certain action. It will be nice to know and help us better understand the animal world :)
This is so interesting!!
I have often wondered what my rabbit is thinking! She always looks so suprised haha! Its amazing what technology can do these days!
This still hasn't happened yet. They are only planning to do it and we can never be sure what this will achieve. But yeah, knowing what your pets are thinking would be really fun!
Probably!
I think so too :)
I wished we could, would help us a lot i am pretty sure.
It would change so much. If we could understand what animals say or are trying to say in their own way, it could help us and them tremendously.
Maybe in the future we will :)
Yeah, the team is only getting started. This research may very well take years and years before any conclusion is derived.
Hopefully :)
You are right,
it's really exciting to be able to live. The more sophisticated technology makes everyone has the determination and interest to develop science.
For if we have no curiosity, it is like living in darkness looking for something hidden, and that we never find.
Science and technology have made the modern world possible and it is not only that. Our very nature is that of an explorer. We naturally want to find answers to unknown things and that is just wonderful :)
A satisfactory answer. Thank you friend
I know my cat changes the tone of his sound when he wants something.
And when he knows he's gonna get it he also gives a specific sound of satishfaction.
See, so they do have their own way of communication. Now, only if we could be sure of all their actions and sounds, it would make it much easier for us to communicate with them. :)
Yes.
Thanks! :D
I've always wanted to know what my bunny thinks of me. lol
hahahahahaha!! Just imagine if he is thinking about killing you all the time! That would be a plot twist ;)