Dolphins and Aliens

If humans were sea creatures, dolphins, not dogs, would probably be man’s best friend. They are widely recognized as one of the most intelligent species on earth. They are playful, show signs of altruism to their own species and to others, and have even been known to use tools. They have fascinated biologists for years, but now they’ve caught the attention of an astrophysicist who believes they may be the key to a challenging puzzle in the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life.

As someone who is very interested in languages and linguistics, I have always wondered how we would cross that vast divide between human and alien. Alien life is likely to have little common ground with humans upon which to build a mutual understanding. On Earth, an obscure tribe with an unknown language has at least some tools with which to communicate with newcomers. There are hand gestures, shared areas of knowledge, and – most importantly – facial expressions, the ultimate universal language. Within the same species, there will always be commonalities – keys to communication built into our DNA.

But how could we possibly communicate with aliens – beings that might bear no passing resemblance to us, who may or may not have a gesturing ability that we would recognize, and whose appearance may be so foreign as to be indecipherable? Without common ground, how will we know if they are intelligent or even have a language to decode?

Read more at The Inclusive: http://theinclusive.net/article.php?id=713