One of the great hopes pinned on artificial intelligence is the ability to understand the language of animals and communicate with them; However, while the prevailing perception suggests that the day we can have a conversation with our dog is approaching, two Israeli researchers are seeking to temper the enthusiasm
Instead I think we need to shift perspective from what we consider as communication, and have to admit that the human (conscious) focus on uttered sounds and (unconscious) focus on body language is by far not the only or the standard way of communication.
And maybe we have to come to terms with the fact that interspecies communication is not communication in general and very different from in-species communication.
So basically re-frame our human-centric understanding about communication.
No, I want to be able to have an argument with my dog because I was out for half an hour longer than I originally said.
This may not be completely outside of the realm of possibility. Here is a short clip of a leading prairie dog communication expert talking about the potential of pet-humam communication.
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Yes! This is so huge! And one of the super exciting aspects of all this. Our framework for what communication and language can be is almost entirely based on human communication. Getting an understanding of what an entirely different complex communication system could be would be fascinating.