Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Learning

I have a book that I've only half-read, by Loren Eiseley , born in Lincoln Nebraska, went to UNL and then researched at University of Pennsylvania. He was an "American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer".

In the book he muses about how dolphin cognition evolved, compared to cognition in modern humans. Dolphins do not have digits, like we do, no thumbs to pick up and explore the world (or press the space key as I type). They live in an underwater environment with few natural predators, in social groups, and do not need to spend their time farming or toiling most of the day away like we humans do, just to survive. So how might a dolphin think? How do they perceive and inquire about the world around them?

And clearly, they do inquire and learn new things:

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