A few weeks ago, a colleague from the press office sent me, among many messages, several videos of “influencer” parrots whose videos are going viral: there is one that corresponds to a person who does not want it to be at work, the one who speaks a Roman or Sicilian dialect. Sometimes there seems to be real interaction.
Light content, but it got me thinking: what if one day dogs started speaking human language? So I talked to colleagues and friends to see what he was thinking, and many said, “I can’t wait, you know how many things I want to ask him? You know how many times I look at him and say ‘why aren’t you talking?’. Then there are those who, with a burst of honesty, also admit that they are afraid of him: “So I would really know what he thinks about me, and I would not be prepared to find out that he does not like me. .”
I had a dog for 18 years and I remember when I started a long list of praises for her – sweet, cuddly, nice, funny, empathetic – I finished the sentence with “Eh, she’s just at a loss for words”. But as time went on, when Lella climbed the “Rainbow Bridge”, I realized the beautiful emotional journey that I experienced, thanks to and with her, and I said to myself: “thankfully she did not speak” . Yes, because it wouldn’t be the same: I consider Lella to be my teacher of life, a living being who spoke to me with her gaze, which precisely because she “didn’t have a word” led me to try to understand her. and Lella to try to understand me.
There is something magical about the relationship between man and animal in general, and that with a dog in particular: it goes beyond what two people of different nationalities can experience when they don’t speak their languages. No two people, regardless of their cultures, habits and customs, have more or less the same needs. A man and his dog must understand each other in everything. And it is this journey of mutual understanding, at least for me, that has led to the development of a level of sensitivity towards others that I did not have before. The ability to pay attention to the needs of others, which is difficult to develop in a human society where one’s gaze is directed to the display of a mobile phone rather than understanding whether the person we meet every day is well or not.
And also one of the reasons why it is often recommended to raise children in a home with an animal: it is good for their mind and heart.
Among the many goals of those using artificial intelligence is the ability to “translate” dialogue between a dog and a human. I hope this project fails because those looks, those tail movements, those growls would be lost. and those barks (when necessary), those laps and those happy runs that are the spice of a relationship. It would be a bit, let me compare, like two lovers could always know what their partner is thinking with a display on their forehead. It wouldn’t be the same anymore, the continuous dance where you step on your toes every now and then and then achieve the perfect step would be missing.