5 ms·

I hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunt

I hope we create whalegemma (similar to dolphingemma) so we can explain to them how to co-exist better with humans (e.g. avoid this area during their whale hunting season, travel to this area if you get sick or tangled in rope).

zyxin 5mo ago
There is a group that is attempting to communicate with whales by training a transformer based model on whale sounds. https://www.projectceti.org/ https://www.projectceti.org/
- b112 5mo ago
  https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-language-models-and-the-decoupling-of-intent https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-...
- SummSolutions 5mo ago
  Animals have been highly underestimated, and it’s encouraging to see this work being done. This article discusses their use of vowels and diphthongs. https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-study-shows-sperm-whales-communicate-ways-similar-humans https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-st...
dmos62 5mo ago
Erm, it's illegal to talk to dolphins: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it-legal-to-talk-to-dolphins/89424571007/ https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it...
- jibal 5mo ago
  No it isn't and that clickbait article doesn't say it is.
  - dmos62 5mo ago
    What makes it a clickbait article? >There is a federal law that prohibits people from communicating with dolphins. >It’s called the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon, the federal law was created to protect marine mammals from being hunted, harassed, captured or killed. >In a sense, talking to or communicating with dolphins could qualify as harassment under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. >There are two levels of harassment, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harassment at one level is considered “any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance that has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild.” >On another level, harassment is defined by the NOAA as “acts having the potential to disturb (but not injure) a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by disrupting behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering.”
AlecSchueler 5mo ago
It's just a pity we couldn't figure out how to better coexist with whales.
- gilrain 5mo ago
  …while not changing anything about our behavior, you mean. Because we were never ignorant of how to do better; we just couldn’t accept even any inconvenience, any obstacle to our “growth”.
  - AlecSchueler 5mo ago
    I'm well aware! Not only are we unable to change our behaviour we in fact have the hubris to imagine that if we could only use our technology to communicate with the whales that it would be enough to say > "Don't go to these places—even though you want to, even though your family has been breeding there for generations—because that's our special whale hunting area" And that their behaviour would change for us, that their response would simply be: > "No worries, thanks for the heads up! Sorry for getting in the way of your harpoons"
- CalRobert 5mo ago
  We know how, but we choose not to. The same goes for most of our ecological problems, really.
  - amelius 5mo ago
    If asked the question, most people would choose to, I believe.
    - CalRobert 5mo ago
      They wouldn’t pay a nickel more for gas to save their own kid.
      - b112 5mo ago
SapporoChris 5mo ago
DolphinGemma at this point hasn't accomplished much. If they had anything groundbreaking they probably would mention it on their page. But instead it's filled with many hopeful statements. https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/ https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/

zyxin 5mo ago

There is a group that is attempting to communicate with whales by training a transformer based model on whale sounds. https://www.projectceti.org/ https://www.projectceti.org/

b112 5mo ago
https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-language-models-and-the-decoupling-of-intent https://www.projectceti.org/blog-posts/when-text-hides-text-...
SummSolutions 5mo ago
Animals have been highly underestimated, and it’s encouraging to see this work being done. This article discusses their use of vowels and diphthongs. https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-study-shows-sperm-whales-communicate-ways-similar-humans https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-st...

dmos62 5mo ago

Erm, it's illegal to talk to dolphins: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it-legal-to-talk-to-dolphins/89424571007/ https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2026/04/02/is-it...

jibal 5mo ago
No it isn't and that clickbait article doesn't say it is.
- dmos62 5mo ago
  What makes it a clickbait article? >There is a federal law that prohibits people from communicating with dolphins. >It’s called the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon, the federal law was created to protect marine mammals from being hunted, harassed, captured or killed. >In a sense, talking to or communicating with dolphins could qualify as harassment under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. >There are two levels of harassment, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Harassment at one level is considered “any act of pursuit, torment, or annoyance that has the potential to injure a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild.” >On another level, harassment is defined by the NOAA as “acts having the potential to disturb (but not injure) a marine mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild by disrupting behavioral patterns, including, but not limited to, migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or sheltering.”

AlecSchueler 5mo ago

It's just a pity we couldn't figure out how to better coexist with whales.

gilrain 5mo ago
…while not changing anything about our behavior, you mean. Because we were never ignorant of how to do better; we just couldn’t accept even any inconvenience, any obstacle to our “growth”.
- AlecSchueler 5mo ago
  I'm well aware! Not only are we unable to change our behaviour we in fact have the hubris to imagine that if we could only use our technology to communicate with the whales that it would be enough to say > "Don't go to these places—even though you want to, even though your family has been breeding there for generations—because that's our special whale hunting area" And that their behaviour would change for us, that their response would simply be: > "No worries, thanks for the heads up! Sorry for getting in the way of your harpoons"
CalRobert 5mo ago
We know how, but we choose not to. The same goes for most of our ecological problems, really.
- amelius 5mo ago
  If asked the question, most people would choose to, I believe.
  - CalRobert 5mo ago
    They wouldn’t pay a nickel more for gas to save their own kid.
    - b112 5mo ago

SapporoChris 5mo ago

DolphinGemma at this point hasn't accomplished much. If they had anything groundbreaking they probably would mention it on their page. But instead it's filled with many hopeful statements. https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/ https://deepmind.google/models/gemma/dolphingemma/