Episode Details

You aren't ready to receive their wisdom

We may soon develop the ability to talk to whales. To anyone with even an ounce of whimsy or curious joy, this is obviously pretty exciting. It's hard not to imagine the radical wave of empathy that this could cause, as we realize we're not as special as we previously thought.[1]

There are two main research groups that I know of working on this, Earth Species Project and Project CETI, and the effort to decode sperm whale communication in particular seems well under way.

I think we should seriously consider that, as a civilization, we are not ready to handle this well, and that we should aim to delay our first contact with whales, rather than doing research to accelerate it.

Some thoughts[2]:

1. Exploitation and whaling

Both ESP and Project CETI are publicly committed to open-source research, and are actively sharing their datasets, methods, and models online[3]. Project CETI intends to build "the most comprehensive open-source animal communication dataset ever created[4]". Rather than a controlled and careful effort to bridge the human-whale divide, this technology may become highly democratized, enabling a large number of actors [...]

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Outline:

(00:56) 1. Exploitation and whaling

(02:19) 2. Irreversible cultural change

(03:33) 3. Linguistic prejudice

(04:42) 4. Locking in wild animal suffering

(06:00) Conclusion

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First published:
February 11th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/or5wrefJojkbfc43x/don-t-talk-to-whales

Linkpost URL:
https://lovedoesnotscale.substack.com/p/dont-talk-to-whales

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.