Do you think it is possible that in the coming years scientists will discover ways to "talk with animals"?

Answer 1

They already have with some.

Answer 2

No. Animals cannot think like humans, so they could not communicate like humans. This reminds me of the far side cartoon, where professor Smith invents a machine to tell what barking dogs are saying. It looks like a helmet with all kinds of electronic things on it and he wears it and walks down a street with barking dogs in all the yards along the road. And what they are saying is, "Hey, Hey, Hey". That about sums up the possibility of talking to animals in my opinion. And, yes, some apes have learned sign language. But a limited version, not a full human sign language. That are just not smart enough to comprehend the complex ideas behind the full range of human language. We can probably communicate with them now almost as well as they can communicate with each other, or will be able to at some point. But it will never be like talking to a person. It will be like talking to a person with serious mental deficiencies.

Answer 3

Your question makes the assumption that the animals can "talk" the way you think of human communication.

Despite lots of communication in the animal kingdom, there isn't evidence yet that they have any form of language structure like humans have. Maybe they do, but I'm not aware of any evidence.

This is not to diminish the really intriguing pictogram and sign language studies done with bonobos and chimpanzees, but it isn't clear that the animals have these same skills in the wild.

We can already decipher some animal communication, but talking back at this point is little more than repeating a recording of an earlier communication that we associated with a particular situation. It isn't much of a conversation as we think about it.

Answer 4

no it is impossible to talk to animals animals lack the capacity to even think in those terms much less be able to speak. Animals run only on instinct and lack comprehension although I do beleive eventually with enough study we may be able to learn how animals talk and recreate some of the sounds they make

Answer 5

some scientists have done that now, with a lion, they just remembered what the sound pattern way when it roared and then played it back to thelion and then the lion heard what he had said bt thought it was the person talking.

Answer 6

some experiments out there in the science world have gorillas who can communicate through sign language.

weird thing - they even use insults too, like the gorilla signed derogatory remarks to the scientist / trainer when she couldnt get her way.

some amazing stuff out there.

Answer 7

you are very optimistic ,there may not be many animals to talk to in the coming years ,and the ones that are left would not be very complimentary to us ,so we may not want to hear what they have got to say.

Answer 8

never in the next one million times mt. Vesuvius erupts.

Answer 9

not so much talk as communicate....
probably more w/ common animals (dogs cats etc) that we already have lots of behavioural information on....

Answer 10

If they did, what would we say?

I know what I would say:

bark bark woof bark woof bark bark! Ha! That's right, that's what I think of you and your litter!

Answer 11

yes