Possibly the most complex language in the animal kingdom
That… seems wrong.
Off the Rails
Submitted 1 week ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/f34bf7f6-493a-42a2-b734-1de866e533fe.jpeg
Comments
queermunist@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
Fedizen@lemmy.world 1 week ago
To be fair I think they meant “most accoustically complex language” which is different from like human languages (which have a degree of nonverbal complexity and ideation clearly beyond whales)
VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 days ago
Tonal Languages have entered the chat
stray@pawb.social 1 week ago
How so? (I’m assuming OOP is using the common definition of “animal” to exclude humans.)
queermunist@lemmy.ml 1 week ago
They didn’t use the common definition, they specified the animal kingdom. That definitely includes humans.
Fedizen@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I think they left out a descriptor for the type of complexity which when we’re talking about “measures of complexity” is an important detail. I’m guessing they mean accoustic complexity which is used to categorize things like birdsongs.
wideopenarms@hexbear.net 1 week ago
Humans are the divine chosen beings of true agency plopped onto the earth to bear witness, waiting to return to the source of our divinity, not filthy lowly animals
AtariDump@lemmy.world 1 week ago
IcyToes@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
While the bowl of petunias thought “Oh no, not again” and if we understood why that was, we’d know a lot more about the universe than we do now.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 6 days ago
A random joke that was paid off years and years later
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I will never not upvote Hitchhiker’s Guide quotes
orbitz@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
I listen to the radio version of hitchhiker’s while I go to sleep often, if I managed to hit play in the middle of the whale’s pondering I always back up a bit. It’s one of my favourites of the entire series and not as good when played mid pondering.
Also the line about the bowl of petunias having relevance later is quite amusing to be sure. Though I assume not thought of when written.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 days ago
IIRC the radio scripts were the very first version. Which means that the joke in the radio show was probably deliberate.
I know for a fact that in the books there’s a throwaway gag that the petunias thought, “Oh no, not again,” and the narrator mentions something about the fact that if anyone knew what that meant, the universe might make a whole lot more sense.
Cat_Daddy@hexbear.net 1 week ago
Literally not a single mention of their testicles. 5/10.
ramble81@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
I’m gonna regret this… so tell me about their testicles? Size of basketballs or something?
lime@feddit.nl 1 week ago
Unlike most land mammals, whale testicles are not located in an external scrotum. Instead, they are located internally, within the abdominal cavity, near the kidneys.
The size of whale testicles varies greatly between species. Some species, such as the right whale, have exceptionally large testicles, weighing up to a ton each. This is thought to be related to sperm competition in these promiscuous mating species.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Be careful, I’ve become positively obsessed with them. Well, one in particular…
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
At least you save money on shoes
Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 1 week ago
Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
It’s the loudest animal on the planet
Apart from Brian Blessed, of course.
Hupf@feddit.org 1 week ago
huf@hexbear.net 1 week ago
brian blessed excitedly screaming “IT IS MAGNETIC!” in mcgyver and the treasure of atlantis is burned into my brain
kubofhromoslav@lemmy.world 6 days ago
As they are highly flammable it is good that they spend quite a bit of time in water.
icelimit@lemmy.ml 6 days ago
Far away from the big ball of fire in the sky
mondomon@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That’s why I’m always wary to swim in the ocean. I have a strict no schlorp policy.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Ohh, so you are afraid to be “schlorped”? By the “sperm” whale?
mondomon@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Oh yeah, no big schlorp for me, thanks.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Now this is an HFY prompt.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 6 days ago
Is it tho
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I was envisioning a story where sperm whales became the dominant species of the galaxy with sonic beams. Maybe more Deathworlders Fuck Yeah?
Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 week ago
"Intelligent design"
Oh, I don't think so.
Is that phrase even used anymore, or did it run its course of insanity and die off?
frank@sopuli.xyz 1 week ago
A super fun counter argument I heard once is that if it’s intelligent design, surely it’s not for humans. The universe is BIG with lots of empty space, lots of massive elements to it. Surely it was designed for something much bigger than humans.
Eq0@literature.cafe 1 week ago
I haven’t heard of since there was a clear explanation of how the eye evolved - since that one was a specific example they were referring to
Taldan@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Considering the human eye is basically backwards, I always found it funny people would try to use it as an example of an intelligent creator
Like we seriously have all the working bits in the path of light, permanently blocking our vision in spots. We just hide it with some post-production brain magic, and I’m supposed to believe that’s evidence of an intelligent creator?
cassandrafatigue@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 week ago
Graveyard of rhetoric.
cravl@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Eh, maybe God just has a sense of humor. After all, platypus.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I don’t see that phrase anywhere?