Should Dolphins Be Treated As Non-Human Persons? 785
Hugh Pickens writes "Dolphins have long been recognized as among the most intelligent of animals, but now the Times reports that a series of behavioral studies suggest that dolphins, especially species such as the bottlenose, have distinct personalities, a strong sense of self, can think about the future and are so bright that they should be treated as 'non-human persons.' 'Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to the human brain when corrected for body size,' says Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory University. 'The neuroanatomy suggests psychological continuity between humans and dolphins and has profound implications for the ethics of human-dolphin interactions.' For example, one study found that dolphins can recognize their image in a mirror as a reflection of themselves — a finding that indicates self-awareness similar to that seen in higher primates and elephants. Other studies have found that dolphins are capable of advanced cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, artificial language comprehension, and complex social behavior, indicating that dolphins are far more intellectually and emotionally sophisticated than previously thought. Thomas White, professor of ethics at Loyola Marymount University, has written a series of academic studies suggesting dolphins should have rights, claiming that the current relationship between humans and dolphins is, in effect, equivalent to the relationship between whites and black slaves two centuries ago."
Interesting (Score:2, Informative)
My cat can tell it's his own reflection in a mirror; he uses it to see his face while grooming. If he sees carpet fuzz or something, he'll wipe it off. I didn't know animals, other than apes, could reason this well.
Re:So they are smart ... (Score:5, Informative)
Rapists (Score:5, Informative)
They kidnap females so they can rape them.
Yup, they sure act human-like.
Re:Why just dolphins? (Score:2, Informative)
Good idea posting AC. Lots of Slashdot posters still think the concept of natural rights can stand up to reasoned examination (generally because they've never subjected it to reasoned examination, nor seen it done)
Re:So... (Score:4, Informative)
They knew about the chimps -- Chimps and Dolphins are why Homo Sapiens was considered an patron species.
Re:Non-human intelligences (Score:4, Informative)
No infant can ask for personhood, nor may others with differing mental or physical capabilities. Should they be denied personhood and the rights and privileges that comes with it?
Yes, and they are. Last I checked,a newborn doesn't have much in the way of rights. Children in general are severely restricted in what they can and can't do, until they reach an age at which we feel they are capable of understanding their rights, and acting responsibly. It's also why we don't punish them as severely for crimes as we do adults.
Re:Yes, but that will go against most of humanity. (Score:5, Informative)
by blind biker on Thursday January 06, @11:27AM (#34778808):
I am a researcher in micro and nanotech, and I can confirm this trend in my field, as well. In fact, one journal in particular has been especially bad in rejecting my articles with some awful refereeing, which I will save for posterity. I am tempted to rub my published articles under the nose of the (probably equally incompetent or corrupt) editor of that journal.
I'm going to lose the ability to mod...
I doubt that you have studied dolphin behavior nor could you be a marine biologist or even properly studied, researching biologist.
The above quote is from you, today at 11:27 AM and now at 4:22 PM, you post being the know all of behavior and animal psychology. Maybe you are a nanotechnology research specialist who develops and then implants chips into the brains of dolphins based on your personality studies measuring and recognizing "personhood" with the added bonus of statistically noting the externalities of increasing your karma/or slashdotness based on this research, but I doubt that too!
Re:Non-human intelligences (Score:5, Informative)
Do dolphins try to escape captivity? It's something humans do if they're where they don't want to be, so if it happens we might be able to conclude something about what the dolphins want.
Secondly: You're wrong about race. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Race is entirely arbitrary and socially constructed. Brazilians, for example, tend to delineate race differently from Americans. So someone might be thought of as "black" in the US but as "white" in Brazil. Has anything changed about them? No. (getting this second hand from a very good anthropology professor, here).
If you try to delineate race based on skin color, you quickly run into problems. Some people of Asiatic descent have very dark skin; some Africans have light skin. The San people- African- often have epicanthic eye folds (think "asian eyes"), but they're not Asian. And on and on, with any combination of characteristics. Even the most modern genetic tests can't tell you someone's race (otherwise, Americans and Brazilians would agree on what race someone is, every time). Yes, you can make very good guesses about someone's ancestry with DNA markers, but that's not race.
"all blacks have similar features" is simply, again, wrong. It's not a matter of interpretation. People of African descent are actually more varied than everyone else, because only a relatively few humans made it out of Africa in the initial emigration. Africans are the most genetically diverse, because they didn't lose the genes that didn't come along for the ride out of Africa.
Re:Non-human intelligences (Score:5, Informative)
Fun (but somewhat disturbing) fact--
Some species of dolphin have prehensile penises, and have been shown to pick up and manipulate objects using their genital slits.
(Star shoots over head while jingle plays)
"The more you know!"
Re:Non-human intelligences (Score:4, Informative)
Dolphins: "muck about"
Humans: "New York"
Score one for the dolphins.
Seriously though, the the thing that created New York was our opposable thumbs. Without them, New York would likely be muck. And despite having limited appendages, dolphins do hunt in groups, even ON LAND (shore lines). They even have oral history and tribal (pods) dialects for communication. Dolphins are surprisingly complex and intelligent animals, seemingly limited by their physical shape and lack of digits; specifically thumbs.
For what its worth, some research seems to hint that octopi are nearly as intelligent as dolphin. Yet, what sets them apart in a human's mind is a dolphin's physical ability to vocalize. Which basically makes them more accessible for research and easier to relate.