Originally published at: GRAMMAR, SYNTAX, AND THE LANGUAGE OF (SOME) BIRDS
Regular readers of this website, and more importantly, the paying members who follow our members’ vidchats, will know that one of the subjects that often fixes our attention and which has been a consistent subject for our high octane speculations is consciousness and intelligence, and specifically that of some animals. People know that I am…
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Shilo, the vid-chat mascot, learned to spell years ago…(my dogs also have me well-trained)
The crows and blackbirds at the local supermarket have me pegged the moment I step out of the car, if not when I pull in to the parking lot randomly (after feeding them on several occasions).
Anyone that has had the misfortune to disturb a cluster of black wasps can testify that they’ve been permanently added to the wasps “on call” data banks, and they hold grudges. Even if you happen to get away, they will eventually find and attack you on sight months later…and know more about you than you know yourself…including your patterns, credit score, Social Security number and first childhood crush. 
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As a naturalist (I actually have the degree), replete with years of being around both domestic and wild animals, the failing of humans to realize that their limited audible range is hardly an indication of superior anything, I am not surprised that someone catalogued the vocalizations of some species and recognized the syntax as it related to behavior. I was lucky enough to study with Dr. Olin Sewell Pettingill of Cornell Bird Labs in 1970 and we were just experimenting with battery operated recorders in the field to analyze the results. We called in multiple species that were either nearly colorless, hard to detect, or very shy. It was marvelous. Groundbreaking.
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Frame has changed.
Computer problems changed my perspective.
Inputs, environment; cause epigentic responses.
There is programmed from without; within; both at once/withcommon surface[s].
There is the Natural vs the unnatural vs the play for attention.
Much ado in communication’s subset, “language”.
[subset/grammar]
Dimensions] is[are] key[s].
To today’s post…
I would posit that ALL living; have access to different dimensions, some shared - some not.
“Higher” dimension[s]; accessing , what “we” consider “intelligence[s]”.
Grammar being a derivative of communication; a derivative of langues.
[Im basically dispensing the “s’s”; as it’s a given, when addressing "dimension/s.]
Whose existence/dimension; is also a “derivative” of THE TOPOLOGICAL Metaphor,
(Need I remind “you”; this is high octane speculation territory/Giza.)
In other words , the Mother Of ALL Rabbit holes.
Including: sequence in, and of time.
[M I getting hestitant, as professing such?
As in, the infamous; yet humorous, Professor Irwin Corey territory.
I don’t know about you all, but I have way too many running theories on…
Too many sibjects; including Man vs Animals.
[now, dispensing with quotes].
One of which is: genetic engineering by so-called gods.
THE GOD, created Man and/or the animals.
Animals then being; more core, in essence.
Complicated; in that the differences are natural, not natural, and subject to too many interventions.
[Dispensing futher: to Ocam’s razor; not the 20th-Worst Century’s, Ocam’s Chainsaw version].
Yes.
AND, one could go future in communication derivatives:
Creator<____<subset creat/or/ure<unknown means of communication<culture<language< grammar<
To recognize symbols and/or patterns as communication.
ABSOLUTE core principle/principal.
Let’s put it in a Dashiell Hammet universe.
Meaning, Gizars are not the types to get jailhouse religions.
My point is that once is happenstance and twice is habit.
In other words: I’m ONBOARD with an ancient split.
Where; we are more human with animals, than without.
Hear! Hear!
Studied psychology majoring in consciousness and spirituality and yes there was there is a huge relationship animals have with both. One of my professors was biologist Rupert Sheldrake. Many studies in consciousness of animals, whose connection with their human family enhances both their consciousness and their perception, at long range I might add. Good examples here of his work and why I think animals are just an expression of what we are all connected with/to. Animal Powers
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Thank you for posting your thoughts about animal intelligence, and also for your companion post on plant intelligence. Over the years, I have come to think that every creature, whether plant, animal, fungus, microbe, etc., has been endowed with just the right “intelligence” it needs to contribute its own unique role in the cosmic web of life. And each role is somehow as important as it is deeply mysterious. The deeper one contemplates the intelligence of any creature, the more fascinating the contemplation of the mystery…
Your two companion posts, which ponder the mystery of intelligence in plants and animals, are very important. Many of our daily thoughts are subsumed, nowadays, with artificial intelligence, which has been smashed, quite aggressively, into our faces – almost completely subverting the ponderance of natural intelligence that is inherent in all living beings, regardless what species – and then neglecting to contemplate the great mystery behind this. For me personally, the great fallout of the “Fall” has to do with turning (in our minds) other creatures into "It"s - mere objects to be used, as opposed to “Thou”'s, where one celebrates the intrinsic beauty and role of each creature as a subject in God’s glorious web of creation. To me, this insight is fundamental to being able to raise ourselves out of the fallen state – to return to a reverence and respect for God’s natural creation and biological living systems, and to refuse to participate in practices which desecrate living beings and the fragile and intelligent web of life that binds us all together.
Last year, Father Terry Martin (Roman Catholic priest) published an extraordinary book (Animals in Heaven?) about his personal musings on where he thinks animals fit into the Christian faith. I find this book refreshing – his ideas speak to something that could nourish the Christian faith with profound beauty, and moreover – a great healing and helping to bring people out of this anti-life mind map that has led to the unfolding of all what’s going on around us. We have never heard a Catholic priest voice ideas beyond the standard “animals were put here to be used by humans”, while citing the Old Testament for such ideas, and we feel inspired by Father Terry’s thoughts.
Book Description: Christians of all traditions have often puzzled with the question “Do dogs go to heaven?” Drawing on Catholic teaching, and on his long pastoral experience as a parish priest, Terry Martin expands that concept to consider wider issues around all animals, domesticated and free-living, and why they are here. Within a context of Christian faith, he seeks to understand the place of animals in God’s complex creation and the relationship that human beings have (for good or ill) with those animals. More than that, he looks at the big questions which so many ask about who, under God, animals are and what meaning, if any, animal lives have from a Catholic Christian perspective.
In two (online print) interviews, Father Martin explains why he wrote his book, and gives an overview of his ideas:
- Sarx interview: Animals in Heaven? - Fr Terry Martin - Sarx
- Stallwood interview: Animals in Heaven? by Fr Terry Martin
Besides Father Terry’s book, we recently enjoyed this video which explored the bonds between animals of different species – how they communicate and relate to one another in ways that transcend mere “language”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evijx5cX2k
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Interesting article and links, speaking about the first one, I have to say as a foreigner, that at the first glance I have found the statement about Japanese great t**s very peculiar.
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