tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944798.post5605466182589022922..comments2024-01-18T05:18:48.819-05:00Comments on Wombat's World <small>(a blog for writer K. A. Laity)</small>: BitchBuzz: Douglas Adams & DolphinsK. A. Laityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05983280397279864583noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944798.post-50431543041139429852009-11-06T22:20:38.394-05:002009-11-06T22:20:38.394-05:00I just get riled with the dismissiveness. "Th...I just get riled with the dismissiveness. "They have no language!" just because they don't speak English. Gibberish!C. Margery Kempehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15910282257993793334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944798.post-43088518875187088302009-11-06T22:00:25.115-05:002009-11-06T22:00:25.115-05:00"Until now, because we're finally beginni..."Until now, because we're finally beginning to catch on that dolphins are a lot smarter than we believed."<br /><br />Well, John Lilly, if anything, might've gone the wrong way in the other direction, and he was not alone...but what has been suggested by a number of recent studies is how similar other-species intelligence is to ours. (One factor not being taken into account betwixt dolphins and apes in the example you cite is that dolphins are by nature less wedded to stereo-vision than apes, or, say, cats, or certainly monkeys).<br /><br />Intelligence and language studies with animals ranging from octopuses to groupers to certain bird species to pinnipeds (and certainly, of course, other primates) have all been building an increasing body of evidence that, pace Noam Chomsky and all, humans are indeed apes and the language instinct, much less other less specialized forms of intelligence, are all matters of degree rather than uniqueness/presence or absense.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.com