Here's a breakdown of the themes discussed in the Hacker News thread, with direct quotations to support each point:
Animals and Communication: The "Here I Am" Theme
A central theme revolves around the fundamental nature of animal communication, distilling it down to a basic assertion of presence.
- Ravens: "I was reading some scholarly work on raven calls. It got into a ton of detail, but it opened with the notion that the fundamental message of every call is 'here I am'." (wpietri)
- Dogs: "Not sure if they were conveying any information to each other, but they seemed to enjoy it." (gadders, referring to dogs barking)
- Human connection: "Not being snarky - most social media content is also essentially someone saying “here I am!” (Near a beach, near food). Maybe ravens share some existential angst with humans. Or maybe they are just more physically spread out and need to keep in touch." (jbattle)
Parrot Intelligence and Behavior
The discussion explores the cognitive abilities of parrots, comparing them to human children and even AI models. There's an acknowledgment of the complex emotional lives of these birds.
- Parrots as children: "They described the birds as little kids, except they can fly and have powerful beaks. Some of them have very strong 'destructive' urges too / they want to take everything apart and so on." (duxup)
- Parrot grudges: "One bird was 'upset' with one of the handlers so she didn't want to participate when we met the birds that day. Apparently that handler had broken up a fight between upset bird and another that morning. Upset bird took that personally." (duxup)
- Parrot intelligence vs. LLMs: "A bit offtopic, but it's funny how people call parrots/birds "extremely intelligent" and AI/LLMs "just stochastic parrots devoid of any intelligence", even though their capabilities are very obviously far more like the inverse of those qualifications... with regard to intelligence modern AI absolutely smokes birds." (dinfinity) backed up with neuron and synapse counts.
Humor
Several users contributed humorous observations about animal communication and social media.
- Gary Larson and SMBC comics: several posts discussed relevant comics.
Social Media: Toxicity and Possible Alternatives
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the state of social media, particularly its perceived toxicity, and possible solutions.
- Toxicity debate: "There's a lot of good that happens via internet communication, social media is inherently toxic." (g-b-r) vs. "I don't think social media is inherently toxic" (micromacrofoot)
- The role of algorithms: "Maybe it's impossible to make monolithic social media non-toxic because of all the levers also required to make it profitable via engagement." (micromacrofoot)
- Local or smaller social networks: "Parents have written of setting up a local minecraft server for kids, and their friends, a neighborhood, or a school. Is setting up a local social media server also a thing?" (mncharity)
- Dystopian AI filters: "That would feel dystopian for a human: at the first sign of emotion, your browser tab closes" (axus) vs "At the first sign of harmful interaction / insults / threats, your browser tab closes" (manarth)
- Humorous social media for birds: Social networks for birds:
Bird Roulette
BeakBook
CagedIn
Instasquawk
And ……….. Twitter (andrewstuart) * Potential advantages for bird social media: "Parrots communicate in a realm of which we can suppose that the possibility for the expression of gratuitous stupidity is limited." (mdp2021)
Humane Treatment of Animals
The thread touches on the importance of responsible animal ownership.
- Responsible pet ownership: "Far too many people acquire animals that they aren't able or willing to take proper care of, and parrots have very long lives." (slfnflctd)
- Ethical Considerations: "The study involved experienced parrot handlers who had the time and energy to keep tabs on their birds’ behavior - at the first sign of fear, aggression, disinterest or discomfort, they ended the calls" (mdp2021)