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Cake day: August 23rd, 2023

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  • I found this very interesting:

    Persuading the BBC not to describe sperm whale clicks as “language” in their Blue Planet II series was the highlight of my science communication career. Why?

    A lot of complex communication is going on in cetaceans, much of which we still don’t understand. However, I am convinced that we should drop the stifling and anthropocentric focus on language. It crowds out other perspectives on what is going on – for example, the relationship between rhythm-based communication and music might be a better way to understand the bonding function of coda synchrony in sperm whales.

    We should be wary of ranking species on a single dimension relative to humans, as if all evolution is a path to something like us (much like early anthropologists ranked societies by their progress toward western “perfection”). Instead, let’s take ourselves off the top of the ladder and see other animals as distinct branches of an evolutionary tree.

    I find great logic in the argument of understanding animal communications in relation to the animals themselves rather than their relation to us.













  • gregorum@lemm.eetoProgrammer Humor@programming.devc/unixsocks for more
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    2 months ago

    I really wish this were true. And if it is, please, please, please provide even the tiniest shred of proof.

    Bonus points if it made Steve Jobs angry.

    Edit: if this is not true at all, at least write some fun fanfic about it. Who wouldn’t enjoy an episode of Golden Girls: a Day at Apple, 1996?

    Edit 2: Gil Amelio— he wouldn’t like that.