Lizardsquid, maker of noises @lizardsquid@computerfairi.es

@garbados (from the top of my head, one of the most important criteria is "recursion" — in English, we can embed sentences inside sentences with words like "that":

"I thought that (they were the farmer who (ate the jam donut))"

There's no limit to how deep we can embed sentences, except that our memory is limited and we can easily lose track.

Almost no animal communication systems allow for recursion or embedded sentences.)

@garbados animals definitely can communicate, often in very complex ways, and calling them non-sapient is… wrong

Often, the capacity for language is the only difference between the intelligences of animals and humans

Animals do speak to each other. But for something to be language, it has to meet certain criteria. No known animal communication systems meets all the criteria, but all known human languages do — even languages that isolated children invented with no guidance.

@garbados we can distinguish between communication systems and languages — in language, we can talk about things outside our environment, whereas non-lang communication cannot.

If you wake up on an island with someone who doesn't speak your language, you can still communicate, collaborate to build shelter, etc, but holding a conversation isn't possible. To our knowledge, Animals can communicate, but they're limited to their environment.

I hope we find a species with language…

(good morning)

dggimnnooor

aaaa this one was amazing!

It explored a period of history that the show rarely seems to want to touch (Ancient Egypt), created some interesting historical political drama and mixed it with alien influences...

it's so good

@devurandom@cybre.space that would be useful

@BatElite *smooch!*

Anyway, the next 4 audio dramas look like they'll be more interesting.

And then I'll have listened to 50 audio dramas!

Wow!

@BatElite good morning, Bat!

This story is already incredibly gruesome and dark, and then it had to go to "vampires".

And then even worse: they establish that vampires were real beforehand, and that the genetic experiments were just on converting soldiers into vampires (so that they'd be essentially immortal).

I wouldn't have minded them doing that.... if they hadn't already done **so much** paranormal stuff already

me, a few days ago: ah good it looks like there aren't any paranormal stories for a while
project twilight episode 1: this is a story about genetic engineering!
project twilight episode 3: it turns out that this genetic engineering was actually creating...... vampires!!!!!
me: oh for goodness sake