> One of my daydreams is that we learn to understand some cetacean languages.
Me too!
I sometimes think about the devices described in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos that enabled the wearer to talk to dolphins on the planet Maui-Covenant[0].
I am sure this is possible today, using a library of recorded dolphin sounds and perhaps also movements, environmental conditions and apparent stimuli to train a neural net that can infer meaning.
I did find this article from 2011 about a future test of a dolphin communication device [1].
> Maui-Covenant's original human settlers lived on a beautiful ocean world whose most notable features were the motile isles which migrate to the equator every summer. The isles were herded by dolphins saved from extinction during Old Earth's final years.[0]
Good reason to take care for the dolphins now, eh? Science fiction is great for reflecting, and for exploring what might be, to help guide us into the future. And it can just be fun, of course.
Caring for another group can have long-term benefits (but is not the primary reason to do kind things, I feel), a recent example of which is the many Irish people who donated to the Navajo COVID-19 Relief Fund[1]. Blindboy (from Limerick, Ireland) on his podcast remembers his dad telling him the Chocktaw gave money to the Irish during the famine in the 1800s.[2]
Curious, I looked and found numerous articles about this, including [3].
Me too!
I sometimes think about the devices described in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos that enabled the wearer to talk to dolphins on the planet Maui-Covenant[0].
I am sure this is possible today, using a library of recorded dolphin sounds and perhaps also movements, environmental conditions and apparent stimuli to train a neural net that can infer meaning.
I did find this article from 2011 about a future test of a dolphin communication device [1].
[0] - https://hyperioncantos.fandom.com/wiki/Maui-Covenant [1] - https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028115-400-talk-wit...