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Biggzy10 t1_ixlpdd7 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in New AI Tech Allows Humans to Talk to Animals by 4inalfantasy

I've seen what you're talking about and it's never been proven that the dogs actually understand sentence structure. The soundboard thing is just basic pavlovian response. The dog knows if it hits a certain button it will get what it wants. It doesn't know the actual function or definition of the word.

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[deleted] t1_ixlq3y4 wrote

OK I‘ve seen it with cats but it‘s the same basically. They seem to understand basic things (food, pets)and also things like mom and dad. I‘m in between thinking that it somehow works (bc of expiriences with my own cat & language) and wanting a proof tbh ;)

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wedontlikespaces t1_ixmm4e7 wrote

My cat understands how to get me to give her food. She goes and looks sadly at her empty food bowl, and then looks sadly at me. If she could get that food by pressing the easy and convenient "food" button, she would work it out. But that's not the same thing as comprehending language.

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snoozieboi t1_ixmtmeo wrote

I seem to have read about that famous woman who spend decades with gorillas(?) and taught them sign language. Some claim it all was her bias towards wanting to understand etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)#Criticism

I've also seen the sound board things with dogs and cats and it's intriguing, especially when a cat apparently realizes it's raining and presses something like "stupid" "weather", but it's not like it's scientifically proved in a controlled environment, of course.

My cat would lead me to where he wanted to go, mostly to open doors so he could patrol his areas inside or outside. He'd also want to play by seemingly starting to look actively for invisible preys before I would present a toy he'd attack. Very easy to read at times, but he never told me about my car's extended warranty.

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selectiveyellow t1_ixn3n9m wrote

After Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out, Koko's handlers unironically produced a video of Koko criticizing humanity, just a whole political speech.

Outside of that, I think Koko was pretty good at asking for oranges. Honestly, language is hard and it's difficult to tell a gorilla what they're allowed to do.

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snoozieboi t1_ixncg20 wrote

All I remember from a documentary was Koko having fits and just like a kid choosing to just using the word for "poop" over and over, pretty much like my nephews.

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wedontlikespaces t1_ixncgwn wrote

Gorillas are interesting because they actually possess the necessary vocal cords for language, but more recent study using the whole Koko thing, have proven they don't possess the corresponding language centre in the brain. It's like they are waiting to evolve.

More accurately the vocal cords evolved much earlier in evolutionary history for some other, unknown, purpose and were "repurposed" later on for speech when we evolved the language centre in the brain, which tends to happen a lot in evolution.

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gard3nwitch t1_ixnk9fm wrote

I've watched a lot of those videos, and it seems to me that the animals are trying to communicate what they want using the buttons, and seem to understand that there's some message being communicated when they press the button. I doubt they understand sentence structure - it seems more like a toddler's understanding of language at best. Think about a human toddler going "want up!" Or "Dada, juice!". But that's still pretty impressive, I think. I've been thinking about getting some, since one of my cats will stand next to the cart of cat supplies and just yell at me until I figure out by trial and error if he wants catnip, brushies, a toy, etc. If he could press a button to tell me what he wants, that would be better for both of us lol.

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scaryjobob t1_ixnkz0g wrote

If I use Google Translate to tell a waiter in France that I want something to eat, I also wouldn't understand the 'definition' of what Google Translate tells them. All I would know is that it might illicit the response that I am hoping for.

I feel like that's a pretty solid definition of how translation works, in general. If the animals are able to associate the different buttons with different outcomes, then I think it would still count as a rudimentary translation system.

Edit:

| It doesn't know the actual function or definition of the word.

Just wanted to clarify, the words are for the person to interpret... not the animal. I think the whole experiment makes a lot more sense if you think of it as the animal learning communication, as opposed to learning a language.

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