Animal Intelligence

A place to post videos, pictures, and any other sort of Buddhist or non-Buddhist media.
Post Reply
Jesse
Posts: 2127
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:54 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Animal Intelligence

Post by Jesse »

I would like to get a chance to be around an elephant and/or a dolphin some day. Would be pretty cool. I wonder if we'll ever develop the means to communicate with these creatures?

phpBB [video]


phpBB [video]
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
User avatar
kirtu
Former staff member
Posts: 6997
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:29 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Animal Intelligence

Post by kirtu »

John Lilly, who used to be a household name (at least in my house). pioneered human-dolphin communications. He has three books on the subject, "Man and Dolphin: Adventures of a New Scientific Frontier", "The Mind of the Dolphin: A Nonhuman Intelligence" and "Lilly on Dolphins: Humans of the Sea". His research papers are probably available online as well.

Carl Sagen went down to Lilly's center sometime in the 60's and describes an encounter with an allegedly amorous male dolphin, probably in his final book.

There is the extensive work on Koko the Gorilla and other apes on communicating with sign language.

Donald Griffin's three works on animal intelligence (he was apparently the first scientist to actually put those two words together seriously) from the 80's are still worth reading - Animal Thinking, Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness (reprinted in 2001), and Question of Animal Awareness: Evolutionary Continuity of Mental Experience (from 1981).

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Jesse
Posts: 2127
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:54 am
Location: Virginia, USA

Re: Animal Intelligence

Post by Jesse »

Interesting. I'm actually a fan of the movie altered states. Didn't realize it was based on a real person. Lilly seems like a cool person.

I forget who said it but it went along these lines.. "if we really think we're ready to encounter an alien intelligence, why haven't we broken the language barrier between us and dolphins or chimps. If we can't meaningfully communicate with them we don't stand a chance". I think it was in reference to seti the organization.
Image
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7064
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Animal Intelligence

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Jesse wrote:Interesting. I'm actually a fan of the movie altered states. Didn't realize it was based on a real person. Lilly seems like a cool person.
I read the three books when they were much newer and thought Lilly was gradually losing touch with reality ... but yes, pretty cool.
Never knew of the movie.
:reading:
Kim
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7064
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Animal Intelligence

Post by Kim O'Hara »

phpBB [video]


:coffee:
Kim
User avatar
Kim O'Hara
Former staff member
Posts: 7064
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:09 am
Location: North Queensland, Australia

Re: Animal Intelligence

Post by Kim O'Hara »

dolphins.jpg
dolphins.jpg (107.63 KiB) Viewed 939 times
:coffee:
Kim
Post Reply

Return to “Media”