The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) community now has the technology that they believe will help find a linguistic link between dolphins and aliens. This new study is based on the 1961 ponderings of neuroscientist John Lilly, who was best known for trying to communicate with dolphins.
Lilly’s studies focused on signs of extra-terrestrial life, and he and other researchers were based in the Caribbean as they studied three dolphins and their ability to mimic human speech.
Modern technology such as the Cetacean Hearing and Telemetry (CHAT) device – a submersible computer interface that establishes basic communication with dolphins – is being used to help capitalise on research by a SETI Institute astronomer linking dolphin speech and that of extra-terrestrials. Laurance Doyle argued that dolphin “language” was a guide for alien communication. He believes that only by understanding dolphins will we stand a chance of understanding extraterrestrials.
Doyle has now begun using statistical tools to look for patterns in animal communication. Using information theory – the mathematics to analyse the structure and relationships of information – he says we can better detect intelligence in space. “Information theory is an example of an intelligence filter we can use to sift the signals we get from space,” Doyle told Wired. “Otherwise, we might miss them.”
In conclusion, the search for extra-terrestrial communication with the help of dolphins is an exciting field worth learning more about.
