Larger context: The WOW! Signal (1420MHz) discovered by SETI researcher Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977 that remained unexplained for decades appears now to have been narrowband radiowaves from a comet’s hydrogen cloud.* Looks unlikely that Earth crossed the path of alien communications, some TV show on Planet Orz about two crazy glimphicytes frolicking on their spring break. For a long time the WOW! Signal provided hope that someday, just someday, we might communicate with aliens. Antonio Paris appears to have dashed that hope in his identifying a possible natural cause for the signal. Even if we could identify alien communications or meet ET, could we truly understand the minds and motivations of aliens?
I would not pretend to be an Alien Whisperer. Apparently, as you will see, I’m not even a Dog Whisperer. I have only a little sense of what dogs want and what motivates them. I do know that they appear to have emotions and concerns that I recognize. But I don’t know whether or not I’m just projecting my human traits onto another species. How could there ever be a meeting of the minds?
You might ask why I bring this up in the context of the WOW! Signal. I was dog sitting for a couple of days. Left with me while the owners vacationed, the Golden Retriever had visited me before. She, called ‘Shine,’ but formally ‘Sunshine,’ is a very pleasant dog.** She offers whatever is in reach when I enter a room, sometimes it’s a shoe, maybe a glove, she simply puts it in her mouth and walks over, presenting her ‘gift.’ She never barks, just wags her tail and leans in for some petting. I know. Dog story. Boring. But then, she did something I didn’t expect. After taking her on a little excursion in the car and an ensuing walk, I wanted her to enter the house for the evening. She wouldn’t move. She refused to move. She parked in the driveway. No coaxing worked. No treat worked. A gentle shove didn’t work. Immobile, sitting dog.
You’re thinking, “Get to the point.” Okay, so I couldn’t get the stubborn creature to move to the door. Then I tried something else. I walked her to the front door, a door she never entered because she had never been anywhere but in the floor off the driveway, a furnished floor and spacious. At the front door she waited, and I interpreted the wait as her wanting to go in through that door. “How does this dog know that this door goes into my house?” I thought. She’s never been to this point. But somehow she had seemingly reasoned that this was another entrance. When I opened the door, she happily entered. No more stubbornness. No resistance. I had been played by a dog. She outsmarted me. She wanted, I assume, to go into the house through a doorway she had never entered. She got her way. If she were human, I could say with some confidence that she satisfied her curiosity by manipulating me. But she isn’t human. So now what should I think?
How far into the depth of encompassing species are there human traits? We know that birds can use tools, that raccoons can open garbage can lids, and that dogs and dolphins have saved lives. Although we keep looking to outer space for species with whom we might some day communicate, an unknown world of mind and motivation surrounds us.
True, there are Dog Whisperers—and Dolphin Whisperers. There are people in labs and natural settings watching like Jane Goodalls the actions of animals, testing their skills, and recording their every interaction within and outside their species. There are even people who teach language to great apes. But what do we know that we do not know in the context of our own behavior?
So, if aliens were to arrive, how would you interpret their motives? Could you be an Alien Whisperer? How would you explain and predict their actions? I had trouble understanding a familiar dog’s actions.
WOW? No, Bowwow!
* http://www.wow.com/wiki/Science_News ; see story on Antonio Paris at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/wow-signal-explanation-explained-experiment-astronomy-antonio-paris-a6985466.html
**See my previous blog “Through the Unopened Door” reposted on October 16, 2015
I would not pretend to be an Alien Whisperer. Apparently, as you will see, I’m not even a Dog Whisperer. I have only a little sense of what dogs want and what motivates them. I do know that they appear to have emotions and concerns that I recognize. But I don’t know whether or not I’m just projecting my human traits onto another species. How could there ever be a meeting of the minds?
You might ask why I bring this up in the context of the WOW! Signal. I was dog sitting for a couple of days. Left with me while the owners vacationed, the Golden Retriever had visited me before. She, called ‘Shine,’ but formally ‘Sunshine,’ is a very pleasant dog.** She offers whatever is in reach when I enter a room, sometimes it’s a shoe, maybe a glove, she simply puts it in her mouth and walks over, presenting her ‘gift.’ She never barks, just wags her tail and leans in for some petting. I know. Dog story. Boring. But then, she did something I didn’t expect. After taking her on a little excursion in the car and an ensuing walk, I wanted her to enter the house for the evening. She wouldn’t move. She refused to move. She parked in the driveway. No coaxing worked. No treat worked. A gentle shove didn’t work. Immobile, sitting dog.
You’re thinking, “Get to the point.” Okay, so I couldn’t get the stubborn creature to move to the door. Then I tried something else. I walked her to the front door, a door she never entered because she had never been anywhere but in the floor off the driveway, a furnished floor and spacious. At the front door she waited, and I interpreted the wait as her wanting to go in through that door. “How does this dog know that this door goes into my house?” I thought. She’s never been to this point. But somehow she had seemingly reasoned that this was another entrance. When I opened the door, she happily entered. No more stubbornness. No resistance. I had been played by a dog. She outsmarted me. She wanted, I assume, to go into the house through a doorway she had never entered. She got her way. If she were human, I could say with some confidence that she satisfied her curiosity by manipulating me. But she isn’t human. So now what should I think?
How far into the depth of encompassing species are there human traits? We know that birds can use tools, that raccoons can open garbage can lids, and that dogs and dolphins have saved lives. Although we keep looking to outer space for species with whom we might some day communicate, an unknown world of mind and motivation surrounds us.
True, there are Dog Whisperers—and Dolphin Whisperers. There are people in labs and natural settings watching like Jane Goodalls the actions of animals, testing their skills, and recording their every interaction within and outside their species. There are even people who teach language to great apes. But what do we know that we do not know in the context of our own behavior?
So, if aliens were to arrive, how would you interpret their motives? Could you be an Alien Whisperer? How would you explain and predict their actions? I had trouble understanding a familiar dog’s actions.
WOW? No, Bowwow!
* http://www.wow.com/wiki/Science_News ; see story on Antonio Paris at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/wow-signal-explanation-explained-experiment-astronomy-antonio-paris-a6985466.html
**See my previous blog “Through the Unopened Door” reposted on October 16, 2015
RSS Feed