Recently, in science news, I was enthralled by the idea that a team of scientists from “Project Seti” are using AI language models to learn whale speech. According to these researchers, these AI models have identified that Sperm whales may have complex languages and even names for each other within their family groups. And it was found that dolphins do call each other by name.
So, it got me thinking: could whales have names for us? And even if they did, how much would we really care?
Take, for instance, that through AI, we determine that a set of clicks, or low-frequency calls and whistles represent the word for humans to whales. We would all likely find that bit of trivia fascinating. It may broaden our understanding of animal intelligence, but what would the whale word for human mean to us? Probably not much.
And the reason is that we don’t think and communicate in clicks and whistles. Those sounds are foreign to our lived experience and would be meaningless. So, the whale’s linguistics could never really feel relevant to us. And perhaps also out of an abundance of hubris, we imagine, as the most intelligent species on the planet, that any other primitive form of language does not have the same weight or merit and, therefore, their name for us has little bearing.
So then, what would GOD think of our name for it? I think we all agree that if there is a GOD, it would be far more advanced than we as a species can even comprehend. After all, while we all have different ideas as to what God is, I think we can all agree that if it exists, it is all-encompassing. If it actually created the universe or was born out of it, then it would have to be an entity as old as time and as vast as space. And in that regard, what could it possibly make of us? A tiny blip of a species in the vastness of time and space.
But let’s say that GOD was to visit and look down on our humble little planet. It might look down and see our tiny little cities that, to it, might be akin to inverted ant colonies or termite mounds. And if GOD were to recognize our vocalization to represent it, would it, like us to the whale, find it simply curious? Perhaps, like us, GOD has its own language model and goes by a different name. A name we couldn’t possibly comprehend. Would God, like us, think, “That’s cute. Those tiny creatures make that sound to represent me?” Possibly.
Of course, anthropomorphizing is understandable. After all, we only know what it is like to be human, to experience the world and universe at large from within our bodies, limited to the instruments our bodies offer to sense and communicate. In order to not anthropomorphize it requires really thinking out of the box and putting aside our limited experiences and views.
So, let’s try to imagine what a being that encompasses all space and time might be. Would it even have a physical body of flesh? Would it need ears? GOD could be an intelligence that operates on a spectrum we have yet to discover. Perhaps its consciousness resides on some quantum level, and the entire universe is its being. What if GOD talks in equations or physical forces? Could it even hear our vocalizations if it has no use for hearing in the vacuum of space? Ultimately, GOD probably cares very little about the vocalization we use to represent it or our assumed beliefs about it.
But imagine it looking down on us. What would it be thinking of us? Of these 8 billion little creatures toiling away, coming and going. It must wonder what we’re all doing down here.
It reminds me of being a kid playing in my backyard and watching endlessly with awe and wonder at two ant colonies battling each other. I couldn’t comprehend the ants’ thoughts. I couldn’t understand their language model, which we’re learning are communications they transmit to each other through chemical signals. Why did the ants hate each other? Why were the ants going to war and killing each other? To what end? From where I was standing, they looked like the same exact type of ants. They happen to be two colonies or nests near each other. Was it simply a matter of fighting over land and resources?
I wonder if GOD observes us and if it asks itself, “Why are these tiny creatures fighting each other?”
So, I can only imagine that from GOD’s perspective, it would probably care little about what we were to call it. If we were to call it God, a dog, a brush, whatever, it would all have the same meaning to God. The name we give it only has meaning for us. And would GOD care what we thought about it? Do we care what the whale thinks about us? What I do think God would be more interested in understanding is why we war amongst each other when we’re the same species. Or why we’re destroying the only tiny inhabitable planet for light years around through global warming and pollution in the name of “progress”? I am sure God would find these behaviors far more curious than the name we use to represent it or the things we think we know of it.