Divers can talk to dolphins, perhaps aliens, with new device

The device's language-decoding capability has drawn interest from SETI (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), and may play a role in one day communicating with extraterrestrials, should they ever be contacted. Dr. Denise Herzing, dolphinologist and co-developer of the device, is already running workshops with SETI on how to identify non-human intelligence. It's the ability of this device to communicate with the other sentient beings on our own planet that is of most immediate interest, though. Ever since psychoanalyst John C. Lilly popularized the idea that dolphins could talk in the 1960s, animal lovers and researchers have long dreamt of one day decoding dolphin communication. Not only do some species of dolphin and porpoise have a larger brain-to-body-mass ratio than humans, but they are master communicators. They understand syntax, and even the difference between a statement and a question. The device, technically referred to as the Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry Inferface (CHAT), is composed of two hydrophones and a unique one-handed keyboard called a twiddler, and is designed to be worn around a diver's neck while swimming with dolphins. It works thanks to a specially developed algorithm capable of learning and identifying the fundamental units of dolphin acoustic communication. Dr. Thad Starner from the Georgia Institute of Technology is the technological brains behind the device's development. Dr. Seth Shostak, SETI's chief astronomer, shares Gregg's concerns. "As dolphins can't pick up a screw driver, they are never going to have the kind of technological civilization that humans have, so even if we were able to pick out distinct dolphin words, we would be unlikely to have any idea what they meant as their world view is going to be so different from ours," he said.

I'm ambivalent about this discovery. Humans have a bad history of destroying the things they don't understand. Dolphin perceptions HAVE to be different from human perceptions. They live in a totally different world and therefore their basic learning building blocks are very different from ours. Besides, there are many humans who are amoral and less than ethical in their dealings with "underlings" -- no doubt to the detriment of the dolphins. And, really, how many humans do you know that.... More

Dr. Shostack's comments are ridiculous. There are so many things that we have in common with dolphins, (love, hate, fear, hunger) that their world view would most certainly overlap ours. Since he is the "Chief Astronomer" of SETI, I am guessing that his narrow-mindedness is the reason there has been no contact with ET's yet. He is looking in all the wrong places.

Humans and dolphins could soon understand one another better ...

Dolphins are one of the smartest underwater mammals that humans have learned to train, but what happens if there was a device that could make us understand dolphins better? We’re talking about a dolphin language translator that a couple of scientists are currently working on, using an underwater computer with the hope that one day, they can use it for two-way communications with wild dolphins. Known as the Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry (CHAT) project, this is a labor of love by Denise Herzing, who founded the Wild Dolphin Project in Florida, and Thad Starner, who studies artificial intelligence at the Georgia Institute of Technology. One-way communication is easy, but two-ways? That’s where the real challenge lies. 

Using a smartphone sized computer that is worn across a diver’s chest while being enclosed in a waterproof case, the device will hook up to a couple of hydrophones which are sensitive enough to pick up dolphin sounds underwater, including those that cannot be heard by humans. LED lights inside the diver’s mask will point towards the source of the sound, where the computer is hoped to decode and “translate” what the dolphins are saying, and using a Twiddler (sort of a combination mouse and keyboard), the diver can also choose and send out audible responses which hopefully, the dolphins are able to understand.

This is no easy task since figuring out interspecies conversations is going to be monumental, as you will need to figure out the animals’ vocabulary first. Good luck, guys!

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RT : Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

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Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (Did u see that Nasty Youtube Video with the Dolphin?Yuck)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

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