MH370 Hunt: IoT Sharks with Laser Beams?

Of course, there’s a reason that Google and Facebook are resorting to very advanced, experimental technologies like drones that stay aloft for years to make the Internet accessible to people in remote, developing nations. Some of it might be charity. But, mainly, pretty much every Internet-connected person that might be interested is already using Google and Facebook. So, to continue to fuel growth, they need to find new humans. These might come from remote areas. And, once, they run out of humans? Well, all those profile pictures of dogs on Facebook? Someday, they might really be dogs….

Rube Goldberg contraptions

But probably not sharks. Come to think of it, communication with sharks might be very difficult. They don’t seem to have much of a language of their own. And, putting sharks on the Internet is probably a very bad idea for the foreseeable future. It really is a Rube Goldberg concept suitable for a Bond or an Austin Powers movie. And both we, the original commentator, and Dr. Evil originally intended it as a joke.

Advanced communication skills of mammals

But you might be able to communicate with dolphins using wearables. You might be able to ask a dolphin if it’s seen a shark or a missing plane. They’re warm & fuzzy mammals, much friendlier to humans. They actually have a sophisticated language amongst themselves. They reportedly don’t like sharks. They even have sophisticated senses, like sonar, that even sharks don’t have. (Although dolphins cannot dive to extreme crushing depths at the bottom of the ocean where the flight is located, so UAVs will always be needed.)

Dolphins have already been taught simple sign language, and have there own highly advanced communication language among themselves. On at least one occasion, a dolphin was (with great difficulty) able to convincing parrot-mimic human communication (“Get out of the water!”) in an attempt to communicate with human scientists, although it is not clear if he knew what the words meant.

Analytics and Dolphin Talk

Great strides have been made in recent years with computer analysis of dolphin language. We have been able to show mathematically that their sounds encode sophisticated communications. We have even determined that dolphins each have a name that they use among themselves and respond to. We haven’t fully cracked the dolphin code yet.

Perhaps in the future we will crack the dolphin language code. Then, we could outfit a wearable computer to the dolphin that would let them speak to us remotely in their natural language, or some simplified version of it. We could ask them whether there are any sharks approaching populated beaches, or if they’re noticed any planes crashing into the water recently. If that’s not immediately possible, it should certainly be possible to train them to activate controls on a special wearable computer, similar to what is being done with some dogs. (Some of the applications for working dolphins are reportedly very sensitive, such as clearing mines. So it is possible something like this is already being done but not widely reportedly.)

No one knows you’re a dolphin?

Of course, as the old Far Side comic punch line goes, on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog. (Or a cat. Or a dolphin.) The Internet might not be just for cat photos. Some day, it might be for cats, dogs, and dolphins, too.

After all, some futurists think that dogs and cats will someday be connected to the Internet of Things. For this to happen on any appreciable scale is probably a far more distant future (and still more Dr. Evil-esque future) than the many more practical applications of the Internet of Things. It’s fun to think about in the meantime. It’s the Internet of Things version of posting up a cat photo. And wearable computers already exist for dogs. SQUIRREL!

Related posts:

Crowdsourced seismic sensors might save your life someday. Watson from IBM: Why semantic text tech helps analytics IOT Internet toilet senses disease (and talks?) Dolphin with wearable computer?

1 2