Its kinda ironic that nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars in search of “other than human” sentient life in the Universe, when less than a million is dedicated towards understanding Bottlenose Dolphins:
Bored, I poked my nose into seeing reasons why this was so. The answer is scary and disgusting: there are political and economic groups around the world that fight against such research and attempt to paint them as irrelevant and pointless – because if dolphins were found to be sentient, then it would cause a tremendous downfall for them. Among them are the Japanese Government and United States Navy.
While there is probably quite a bit I could talk about regarding this subject, I am going to stick to pointing out two things, as I am having trouble formulating my thoughts in to a coherent post. First off, among the majority of people, there is a general confusion between the terms “sentient” and “sapient”. I’ll leave it up to those of you who care enough to find out to read about the difference between the terms. Second, scientists are still having trouble defining exactly what makes humans so unique. While I could be wrong about this, I believe that currently the thought is that what is unique about us is the level of complexity of the things we do (e.g. use of tools, language). For example, while there have been reports of tool use in many species, as far as I can recall there have been no reports of any species except us using a tool to create a new, completely different tool.
Actually there is no general confusion. The term was redefined from popular science fiction thanks to Stanley Kubrick, and to a lesser extent Isaac Asimov. Therefore in everyday language it has the same context and meaning as the lesser used “sapience” in the Oxford definition. This is common in language evolution: diehards refuse to accept that a word has evolved and grown to a new meaning thanks to a “trend” or “culture” ¬ñ which is really common to be honest; see slang ¬ñ and therefore challenge it or claim it is incorrect. Eventually the new usage wins out, and the old becomes archaic terminology. “Sentience VS Sapience” is just one example… and Sentience is winning. Wikipedia sucks about defining that, but Narg took too much Linguistics in college, so he’s a nerd in this area. But don’t take my topic off topic. That’s my job.
I’m of the camp that calls this human arrogance. Humans like to herald our own triumphs and therefore define higher intelligence as the achievements that made our “advance existence” possible (discounting of course, the massive evolutionary gains like standing upright and an opposable thumb): language and tools ¬ñ the cornerstone of humanity’s civilization. However there is no proof that tool use is a product of advanced intelligence ¬ñ with exception to humanity - and it is argued that using tool creation as a prerequisite is too fixated on a possible outcome of intellect. After all, hundreds of “dumb” animals use or create tools.
However you are correct that no other species uses a tool to create an even more complex tool. That is a human only trait. In the case of the Dolphin however, they severely lack the biological features to create complex tools. More importantly, their natural environment allows little opportunity to create tools (hard to make fire underwater). Lastly they have little biological need to create tools for survival. Evolution had a MASSIVE impact on how and why humanity uses tools – steps the Dolphin never experienced.
As for language: humanity knows little about complex animal communication. We mostly interpret what we hear and see, into a form that we already know and understand. This is easy when you’re of the same species. This is why two humans from opposite ends of the Earth, who only speak their native language, can be dumped on an abandoned island and eventually form complex communication with each other: there’s a level of similarity and familiarity (like crying or laughing), no matter the culture - that’s what makes us human. If enough time is spend, you could even learn each other’s language.
However this can go away between different species. How does a human know what that spider is thinking, while its moving on the web? You don’t. You can interpret something from its actions - oh… its hungry because it’s eating that fly ¬ñ but in reality you never did. You just assumed something, based on your own human experience (when I get hungry, I eat something). You can’t “mind read” another human of course, but you often have far more success in accurately guessing what another person is thinking - the so called hunch or gut feeling - especially on a more primal level - because of the similarities humanity shares as a whole. Crime solvers and psychologists use it all the time. Dolphins ¬ñ if they are truly sentient ¬ñ are naturally more difficult than a spider. Given the difference in environment, evolution, and just plain existence in comparison to humans ¬ñ that makes “understanding” the Dolphin an utterly alien experience.
To this day, scientists still argue over WHY a dog wags its tail…
tl;dr … but seriously I checked those links and why dont the Jpn gov and navy want them proved sentient? I think they are sentient and have thought they would be kick ass lifeguards . BTW am I the only one here who read the dolphin sex essay? :lol: :lol:
Before I chime in again, I just wanted to point out that I’m on your side Narg (for the most part) regarding dolphins. I’m sort of playing the part of the devil’s advocate in this discussion. In any case, back to the main discussion.
Another thing I’d like to point out is tied to language, which I brought up last time. Some would argue that a measure of sentience is whether or not a species can transmit a behavior purely through language (i.e. the behavior is told without being shown). As far as I have heard, there is only one other species besides us on this planet that has been shown to do this: bees. However, as this is only a part of the whole picture, you wouldn’t call bees on the same level as us. (That’s not to say they aren’t amazing creatures however!) Another measure that could be brought up is empathy. However, as you have already stated, it is difficult to know the mind of a creature so dissimilar from us, so at best we can only conjecture about it given secondary evidence.
The Japanese refuse to accept evidence that Dolphins possess “higher intelligence” as North American and European nations do. They use them as a food supply and view them as nothing more than fish. See their record on whale hunting for further controversy.
I think they are sentient and have thought they would be kick ass lifeguards . BTW am I the only one here who read the dolphin sex essay? :lol: :lol: