
The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be (2003) - craneca0
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/jul/03/research.science
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cko
"For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more
intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New
York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in
the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed
that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same
reasons."

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kenrikm
"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"

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hanniabu
I can't wait for the day that we are able to give a dolphin a brainwave
controlled arm prosthetic and some building material/tools. I feel they're
just as smart as humans but we just brush them off as stupid because they
haven't built anything. But I man what do you really expect from them? They
have flippers for hands and minimal resources to build anything.

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api
That's a future just crazy enough to happen: forget about AI singularities.
Just augment the other intelligent beings that inhabit the Earth. The aliens
were here all along.

Of course they might be a bit peeved when they find recipes for themselves on
the Internet.

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jackgavigan
Meanwhile, the more dolphins study man, the dumber we turn out to be.

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robotcookies
You have to wonder, if they had hands and arms instead of flippers, they might
have built civilizations like humans have.

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mikestew
Perhaps they built the civilizations, realized the pointlessness, went back to
frolicking in the water and ended up with flippers from lack of use.

My roundabout point is, why do they have to build civilizations? Because we
humans think that's the pinnacle of advancement? Perhaps the dolphins have a
difference in opinion. Perhaps they're debating this very idea over some
delicious herring: "do you think humans are intelligent?"

"Mmm, could be. But they keep scurrying around building pointless crap, so I
don't know."

"Yeah, good point. More herring, darling?"

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graycat
Naw, the irony is that we think that we are studying the dolphins while,
actually, the dolphins are studying us and we still have not yet caught on to
that! We're the ones in the zoo cage! And the dolphins are so smart that they
can study and understand us without use of hands, computers, cameras, etc.

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humanrebar
Would it be interesting science or newsworthy if dolphins ended up being bad
at something? Isn't this just a form of selection bias?

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burnte
Way back in 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd had a dolphin "pet" in his home by the
sea. Some people say he could talk to the dolphins, but I think that's just
silly, something out of a movie.

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rbanffy
I heard his son was fluent in dolphin language.

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nyandaber
We should stop studying them before they get brighter than us and overthrow
humanity.

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njharman
That is such a (I don't know word to express my feelings...) "offensive"?,
"humano-centric"? "hubris filled"? title. And exemplifies and perpetuates
humankind's atrocious relationship with our fellow earthlings.

Dolphins are not turning out to be brighter. They were/are as bright as they
always have been. Humans are the ones changing, losing a bit more of our
ignorance and hubris.

This is still so pervasive that most people don't even recognize that as an
"issue". Just like people hundreds of years ago wouldn't be phazed by the
title "Negroid race is turning out to not be savage sub-humans after all".

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ceejayoz
The article is saying they're turning out to be brighter _than we thought_.

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njharman
I said title and not article for a reason.

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ceejayoz
The title says the same thing.

"The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be" is obviously
not saying our study causes them to become more intelligent.

