Earthtrust Project Delphis
Building a Bridge between Dolphin and Human Minds
For speed, the neural network system’s core software and the whistle application are in C/C++ and Mac OS X. A highly processing-intensive application, the Earthtrust team plans to revise the software soon to take advantage of the ultra high-speed floating point performance of the Velocity Engine.
The Dolphin Has Landed
Until Earthtrust’s initial breakthroughs at Delphis, it was believed that no beings in the universe, aside from man and a few of the great apes had attained the benchmark of intelligence called “self-awareness.” But Earthtrust has demonstrated that dolphins possess self-awareness in the same sense that humans do.
“Each day at the park, dolphins and scientists collaborate over their Power Macs, making incremental progress in the work of making history.”
Dr. Marten believes the comparison of Project Delphis to the lunar landing is an apt one. “Kennedy threw down the gauntlet in the sixties to gather existing technology and put a man on the moon, and that’s the kind of challenge Earthtrust has taken up with dolphin cognition and communication,” he says. Earthtrust is, after all, best known for attempting — and succeeding — at tasks considered impossible.
Within the coming decade, Delphis plans to make “first contact” with dolphins in a shared conversation. Even now, the effort is generating new knowledge and new questions to ask. And like the race to the moon, many of the practical benefits will come from the effort itself. One thing is sure: like visiting our moon, this is a landmark that will only be reached once. As two kinds of minds seek to meet on a small blue planet in an obscure arm of the Milky Way galaxy, a hydrophone with a Power Mac is acting as translator.
