DiscoverEmergence Magazine PodcastThe Ethics of Listening to Whales – A Conversation with James Bridle, Rebecca Giggs, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
The Ethics of Listening to Whales – A Conversation with James Bridle, Rebecca Giggs, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

The Ethics of Listening to Whales – A Conversation with James Bridle, Rebecca Giggs, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Update: 2025-05-27
Share

Description

What if we listened to the complex clicks of whales and could understand their meanings? What would we hear and how might we respond? More-Than-Human (MOTH) Life Collective founder César Rodríguez-Garavito, artist and technologist James Bridle, and author Rebecca Giggs come together in this conversation with Emergence executive editor Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee to explore the ethical, legal, and relational implications of a new project using AI machine learning to translate the speech of sperm whales. Contemplating the human-centric linking of language with intelligence, the moral complexities of collecting and using these translations, and what it might mean to have an ear for “whale-ish,” they discuss whether a shared language is even needed to find a depth of kinship with whales.


Read the transcript. 


Image: Mike Korostelev / Moment via Getty Images



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Comments 
In Channel
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

The Ethics of Listening to Whales – A Conversation with James Bridle, Rebecca Giggs, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

The Ethics of Listening to Whales – A Conversation with James Bridle, Rebecca Giggs, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee

Emergence Magazine