Detail from ‘Discomedusae’ #28 in ‘Kunstformen der Natur’. Ernst Haeckel. 1904
SFI News:
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) recently hosted a workshop called “Animals in Translation”, organized by Interspecies Internet, with representatives from XPrize, which aimed to imagine, discuss and co-create robust yet flexible criteria that would constitute evidence for the successful decoding of communication systems by other species. Towards this goal, the meeting brought together experts from the fields of animal communication, cognition, behavior, AI, philosophy, linguistics, mathematics and the arts. The outcomes from this meeting will contribute to the wider field of exobiology, and representatives of XPrize Biodiversity + Conservation will further co-develop a prize concept for animal translation based on the criteria conceived.
At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7 at The Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St. in Santa Fe, the public is invited to attend a conversation between SFI President David Krakauer and Interspecies Internet Trustee Diana Reiss on key insights that emerged from the workshop, with recorded interviews of other workshop participants.
Diana Reiss is a professor of psychology at Hunter College and in the graduate program of Animal Behavior and Comparative Psychology at the City University of New York. Reiss’s research has focused on understanding cognition and communication in dolphins and other cetaceans. Her important contributions include demonstrating mirror self-awareness in dolphins via the Mirror test. Her work in conservation and animal welfare includes “the protection of dolphins in the tuna-fishing industry and her current efforts to bring an end to the killing of dolphins in the drive hunts in Japan.” She was the scientific advisor for The Cove and wrote The Dolphin in the Mirror: Exploring Dolphin Minds and Saving Dolphin Lives. She is a Founding Trustee of the Interspecies Internet.
David Krakauer is the President and William H. Miller Professor of Complexity Science at the Santa Fe Institute. His research explores the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on earth. This includes studying the evolution of cellular, linguistic, social and cultural mechanisms and artifacts supporting memory and information processing. His attempt to answer such questions as “How did intelligence evolve in the universe?” and “What is the relationship of intelligence to fundamental physical and biological laws, to include entropy production, the arrow of time, and natural selection?” are pursued using a combination of carefully selected model systems and mathematical and computational frameworks.
Reserve free tickets through The Lensic Box Office online or call 505.988.1234. Santa Fe residents are encouraged to attend in person. This lecture will be streaming from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the SFI YouTube page.
This lecture is presented at no cost to the public thanks to generous sponsorship from the McKinnon Family Foundation with additional support provided by The Lensic Performing Arts Center and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Click here for more information about SFI’s Community Lecture Series.
