Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages

Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by bostonsre on Friday May 21, 2021 @09:58AM (#27234041)

Has anyone successfully decoded a language of another species with this or other efforts? Or does anyone know what's the furthest we think we've gotten when decoding language for another species?

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by jyounker on Friday May 21, 2021 @01:00PM (#27236694)

We know that cotton top tamarins have at least 38 calls, the calls have a grammatical structure, the calls are learned, and comprehension comes before usage mastery. That pretty much qualifies as a language.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton-top_tamarin

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by forgotmypw17 on Friday May 21, 2021 @11:35AM (#27235395)

I think if anyone's had any success decoding animal language, it's been in a personal setting, with a whole lot of listening, observing, and paying attention.

Each individual animal has its own personality and language which they'll share with you, just like when humans who share a lot of time together tend to form their own language variants.

One of the most helpful books on the subject I've read is "Wild Animals I Have Known" (1898)

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by blacksmith_tb on Friday May 21, 2021 @01:47PM (#27237372)

While that's personally appealing to me, I worry that we tend to understand what we want to understand - there's a reason we use the expression "if a were a horse" as a parody of empathy. Though of course that's even more true of trying to make sense of other human beings, which I don't think is impossible (just hard).

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by forgotmypw17 on Friday May 21, 2021 @02:54PM (#27238318)

I think it is very similar to human beings, except relying even more on the non-verbal.

If you have doubts about interpretation vs "facts", then I can only guess/assume that you have not had this experience.

The best advice I can give for establishing a relationship is to think hard about what the animal wants most, and try to offer it in a way that it can understand is connected with you.

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by eternalban on Friday May 21, 2021 @10:34AM (#27234487)

"Decoding the language of plants and flowers has been a decades-long challenge. But that changes today. Thanks to great advancements in artificial intelligence, Google Home is now able to understand tulips, allowing translation between 'Tulipish' and dozens of human languages."

https://www.blog.google/products/home/google-tulip/

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by YeGoblynQueenne on Friday May 21, 2021 @05:39PM (#27240309)

  Matthew Feigal
  Plant Engineer, Google Tulip
  Published Apr 01, 2019

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by FridayoLeary on Friday May 21, 2021 @11:07AM (#27235001)

Soon they will be tailoring ads to improve tulips browsing experience.

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by hyper_dynamics on Friday May 21, 2021 @10:23AM (#27234333)

Are there even other "languages"? Or are there just signals like "land-predator!" etc?

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by XorNot on Friday May 21, 2021 @11:06AM (#27234984)

Dolphins are understood well enough that we know there are regional dialects, and they broadcast individual name identifiers.

We know they're talking at least enough to have a sense of self, but AFAIK we haven't deciphered the culture/language enough to say anything meaningful to them.

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by meristohm on Friday May 21, 2021 @12:19PM (#27236045)

I sleep outside most days year-round and the morning chatter of the birds is a delight. I understand none of it. Maybe they, like us, enjoy hearing themselves talk?

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by Loughla on Friday May 21, 2021 @12:28PM (#27236180)

I always chuckle at birdsong, and how pretty it is. Most of it evolved to be some form of "GO AWAY" or "COME HAVE SEX PLEASE" that was loud and distinct enough to be heard over great distances and over the other noises in nature.

So, listening to sweet birdsong first thing in the morning is like going to a rowdy bar on a Saturday night and listening to the singles yell at each other over the music.

It genuinely never fails to make me chuckle when I'm on the porch listening to birds in the morning.

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by KineticLensman on Friday May 21, 2021 @01:04PM (#27236745)

> Most of it evolved to be some form of "GO AWAY" or "COME HAVE SEX PLEASE"

You missed "DANGER DANGER" and "FEED ME" and "I'M HERE WHERE ARE YOU" and "HEADS UP GUYS (let's mob that raptor)"

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by marcus_holmes on Friday May 21, 2021 @06:11PM (#27240612)

I always love that quote (can't find it) that Elephants have a special noise for "warning! there are bees nearby!", and someone pointing out that humans do too, it sounds like this: "warning! there are bees nearby!"

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by 2Ghosty on Friday May 21, 2021 @12:45PM (#27236445)

I'm curious about sleeping outside. Is it normal in your culture or a personal preference? Are you in a tent or exposed?

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Re:Earth Species: Roadmaps towards decoding non-human languages by meristohm on Sunday May 23, 2021 @07:22PM (#27259550)

I’m in a tent, and would consider going without as there aren’t many insects around here that want to eat parts of me. There are coyotes and the occasional black bear and cougar, but I’m fairly close to the house. I grew up in rural USA and an comfortable in the woods. I try not to speak for others, and I haven’t yet met anyone who regularly sleeps outside when not on a camping trip.

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