| Interspecies communication is a massively underrated field. We've bridged human cultures in the past, which is easier because humans do similar (ish) things, we can use sight, touch, smell, etc to establish common ground. We can communicate simple things with pets, though in my experience they learn from body language and intonation, understanding grammar and language feels like a step further. What's the common ground with whales? Like how eskimos have 100 words for snow, whales could have thousands of phrases for water, currents, temperature, storms. Fish, migration of different species. A language of relative position needed for pack hunting. They might tell stories about El Niño, earthquakes, tsunamis. If they have social structure we may share ideas of relationships, friendship, giving (food), owing, sharing, helping, etc. We might be able to correlate their speech with weather patterns and animal sightings. We could probably start a two way communication, I wonder if us or them would have better forecasts for sea conditions. They could act as a network of hundreds of thousands of sensors. Sperm whales travel so far, that even without maps they might know the shape of the continents. Very excited for the future. |
