Jun 28 2008
Forget Swimming with Dolphins, I’d Like to Fly with Bats
Here in central Florida, swimming with dolphins is a popular attraction. Some people call it a spiritual experience. Sure, I’d think it was cool, particularly if I did it in the wild and not in 4 feet of water with a team of trainers and a few semi-domesticated dolphins circling around.
But spiritual? I try to project as little “woo” onto my experiences as possible. It only makes your keyhole to reality that much smaller. Rather than simply seeing the universe as it is (or as close to that as we can get), you see it through a lense that reflects your own wishes and prejudices back at you.
Over at ScienceDaily today they posted this article: What It’s Like To Be A Bat: Vocal Sonar Does More Than Locate Objects; It Cues Memory And Assists Flight.
“For decades it’s been recognized that a bat’s voice produces sounds that give the bat information about the location of objects,” says Moss. “We’re now recognizing that every time a bat produces a sound there are changes in brain activity that may be important for scene analysis, sensorimotor control and spatial memory and navigation.”
Flying with bats, were it possible to “see” the world through as they hear it . . . now that would be a reality-expanding experience!
