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There is a fascinating new study out of the University of California, Berkeley. working with project ceti and using ai, they have explored what we can only call sperm whale language. As I explore in the book, sperm whales were especially sought after; they made the best oil. Whalers were also aware of the social lives of sperm whales, including one of America’s greatest writers: Herman Melville.
Here is a quote from the site, https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/uc-berkeley-and-project-ceti-study-shows-sperm-whales-communicate-ways-similar-humans:
“The spectral properties we discovered are very similar to human vowels. They correspond so closely that we can use human letters to describe them,” Beguš said. “Even the production of those sounds, which mirrors human vocal tract pulses, is similar to humans.”
The findings are a breakthrough in decoding sperm whale communication. However, their implications go beyond just translation. According to Beguš, understanding that sperm whales may have the capacity for language raises serious legal and ethical questions.
“We’re thinking deeply about what finding these human-like structures means for the legal rights of animals,” said Beguš. “This paper prompts questions like, for example, what is language? Is there anything uniquely human about language, or is it just a continuum? What does that mean for the law?”
By questioning long-standing beliefs about animal communication, according to Project CETI, this research could pave the way toward rethinking the moral and legal distinctions separating humans and animals. Beguš is confident that taking steps toward deciphering whale communication has the capability to aid both conservation efforts and the animal rights movement.”
you can learn–and listen!!– more by going to: https://youtu.be/eFbnYQI-Oa0
See also the NYT Oped page for Nov. 30, 2025: “Another Use for A.I.: Talking to Whales”
As I explore in the book, whalers were aware of the social lives of their prey. This is clear in Melville’s Moby Dick. That book is also of course about man’s hubris, in this case the hubris involved in the destruction of nature.