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Comment by nine_k

5 hours ago

If you look at different ancient traditions, you will notice how they struggle with the limitations of language, with its inability to represent certain things that are not just crucial for understanding the world, but also are even somehow communicable. Buddhists dug into that in a very analytical, articulate way, for instance.

Another perspective: cetaceans are considered to be as conscious as humans, but any attempts to interpret their communication as a language failed so far. They can be taught simple languages to communicate with humans, as can be chimps. But apparently it's not how they process the world inside.

You're a little out of date. Cetaceans communicate images to each other in the form of ultrasonic chirps. They chirp, they hear a reflection, and they repeat the reflection.

  • Does this resemble human language, with syntax, the ability to define new notions based on known notions, etc?