Humans Might Talk To Whales One Day. What Should We Say?

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New technology is revolutionizing how we study and protect nature. In this video, we’ll learn how artificial intelligence is being used to decode the sonic landscapes of the ocean - specifically, whale song. That’s right, there may come a day soon where AI allows us to understand and talk to whales. But some scientists are saying: the question may not be CAN we talk to whales, but SHOULD we talk to whales?

0:00 Intro - What it's like to be a whale
1:44 Ch. 1 - The record that saved Earth's whales from extinction
5:01 Ch. 2 - Can AI help figure out what whale songs mean?
6:39 Ch. 3 - Living in a world of sound (umwelt)
8:25 Ch. 4 - How do whales make sounds, anyway?
10:26 Ch. 5 - We need to talk about the L word
11:51 Ch. 6 - How AI is already changing whale research
13:10 Ch. 7 - Training computers to listen to animals
15:46 Ch. 8 - How can we decode what a whale song means?
17:17 Ch. 9 - Making WhaleGPT is so much harder than we realize
19:48 Ch. 10 - Should we really be doing this?
21:43 Follow me to Planet Wild!

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Note: The thumbnail for this episode includes a picture of Joe Hanson created with a text-to-image generative AI tool

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Merch

[Minty]

imagine we translate whale-song/speech and we find out the recording we put on the voyager record is something stupid like an argument

[Linuxpunk]

I am a retired submarine sonar tech and listening to whale song and other sea creatures was the only thing getting me through those long boring midwatches sometimes

[CrashingThunder]

One argument to try to communicate with whales is that it would give us insights into how we could potentially communicate with other intelligent life in the universe. Much like in the movie Arrival, communication is about gathering context, gaining understanding, and making connections. Figuring out how to do that with whales is a tough challenge that we would learn from.

[kirnupiimaa]

"Sorry for making lamp oil out of most of your ancestors. It was very premium stuff though!"

[planet-wild]

Thank you so much, Joe, for hosting our latest Planet Wild mission! Your passion and insights made the exploration of using cutting-edge technology to study blue whales not only educational but truly captivating. We're thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with you on this fascinating project.

[JoyThiefTheBand]

I certainly hope one day we find a way to properly communicate with at least one species, and then maybe a few more people will start to understand the world we are part of, rather than thinking we exist separate to nature. If you pull back far enough, we're all one big organism on Earth.

[Kirhean]

Why should we try to talk with whales:

1. Because it's cool
2. It's a learning experience for communicating with potential extraterrestrial life.
3. Being able to communicate with another species would be a massive boon for conservation efforts.
4. We share this world with them. If they're as intelligent as they seem to be, then we owe it to them to be better roommates, and opening a dialogue would be an excellent first step.
5. (this space reserved for black swan events)

[MuffinHop]

Prairie Dogs have also been found to have possibly the most complex language after humans, we could try to talk to them as well.

[psychoedge]

Being German and hearing about "Umwelt" as being a concept introduced to biology in the early 20th century, in turn spawning the field of ecology, is wild. In our everyday language it literally just translates to "surrounding world" - and just means environment and it feels completely natural to use. Hearing English speaking people of scientific background refer to Umwelt as "perceived environment of an animal" feels a little odd, like someone using a word way too specifically, even though they're not wrong. I would've expected that word to be way older, too (it was borrrowed from Danish and used since the 19th century, but only in a geographical sense). Thanks for providing this little trip into my own language's heritage.

[SciMinute]

Seeing this makes me hopeful that we’ll be able to talk to other animals someday!
Honestly, I don’t think it’s that far off

[benmcreynolds]

Sperm whale's sonar abilities really blow my mind. They are capable of using sonar as a weapon if they aim it and just blast things with extreme sonar. They also dive super deep and hunt squid in pitch black so sonar is crucial. It's fascinating

[michaelmeyers]

Shoutout to the time that Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz taught himself whalesong so that he could insult the macaroni and cheese recipe of a whale!

[newproductions]

Came back to say thanks for introducing me to Planet Wild. What a great initiative. Their videos are so hopeful. Cool that you’re a part of this

[MichaelStaghorn]

I'm not at all worried/thinking about what if those whale "songs" we sent into space are actually them being like "Help, the hairless monkeys are after me!" and "Save me from these brutal genocidal maniacs!" etc. Nope, not at all... 😬

[MariaMartinez-researcher]

04:26. Also, in 1986, the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home a.k.a. The One With the Whales, made the existence of humpback whales a key for the planet's survival.

[MT-xydi]

I saw the Planet Wild video first, and then I came to your channel. Wow. Both videos are awesome. Thank you so much for your great work

[dmac]

Perhaps using AI to listen and understand whale song is best. I think one of thing they might say is "it's too noisy down here". One of the biggest threats to their long term survival is the steady increase in ambient noise due to shipping, fishing, and petroleum extraction, and their related activities. It stands to reason that they depend on their whale song for communication, navigation, finding food, and responding to threats. That is a challenge to deciphering a language if it exists. Whale songs are probably used for other purposes than speech.

[kevinamery]

Here's the thing: the question of "why would you talk to a whale?" is effectively the same as "why would you talk to an extra terrestrial?" All of the objections the interviewees made about talking to whales are just as valid when talking about, say, the inhabitants of Proxima Centauri C.

[CinderAndAsh-Metalworks]

This is the right use of ai in my opinion. Doing something that advances our understanding of something and doing something we couldn't do on our own

[elraviv]

17:58 The first whales appeared 50 million years ago, not 150 million years ago.