PieFedPossibility of translating the messages of dogs, cats, and other pets
sbeakIf there was a program that collected the barks, woofs, and whines of dogs along with a human description of what it means, could you process that data to create a sort of translator for dog speak that tells you the general idea of what they want? (e.g. hungry, glad to see you)
It would probably need an indicator for dog breeds since they will sound different. And obviously dogs don’t speak the same sort of language we do, but could general emotions be translated?
Think a little bit like those apps that (human) bird watchers catalogue bird sounds that are assigned to specific bird species. Many people have a good idea of what a dog wants/needs when they hear the noises it makes, so I can imagine something similar for dog owners. They record sounds of their dogs and what they believe it means, just as bird watchers do for mating calls.
Would this work at all? Or are the sounds of dogs too varying, even accounting for dog breeds? And how does its effectiveness change for cats and other noisy pets?
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Not in any objective sense.
But in a pragmatic or functional sense, yes.
Animals can communicate with and understand us, but not beyond anymore more than a toddler level.
You aren’t going to be able to have a discussion with your dog about existential angst or the emotional depth of The Pitt. And frankly, you won’t be able to do that with most other humans.