In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Grokster ruling, many have been speculating about what it means exactly to "induce infringement." Well, leave it to science to be the first to push the boundaries. Professors in Florida have apparently taught a dolphin to sing the theme from the Batman TV show on command. A violation of copyright or a scientific breakthrough?
Link: Dolphins sing ‘Batman’ theme:
Harley, who is associate professor of social sciences at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, says that both studies tested dolphins at Disney’s Epcot Center in Florida.
The researchers first had an adult male bottlenose dolphin position itself in front of an underwater sound projector, called a hydrophone, that produced six different 14 kiloherz, 4 second rhythms.
The dolphin was rewarded for performing a certain behaviour to each rhythm. For example, when rhythm 1 played, it waved its pectoral fin and when rhythm 2 played, it tossed a ball.
The various rhythms were played at different frequencies and tempos to ensure the dolphin was recognising rhythms instead of just frequencies or sound durations.
Another adult male was trained to produce similar rhythms using a pneumatic switch, essentially a small, air-filled ball connected to a computer that then generated sounds whenever the dolphin pressed the switch.
"The dolphin was reinforced for producing a specific rhythm to a specific object," says Harley.
"For example, when we presented him with a Batman doll, he received a fish for producing a specific rhythm, in this case, a short sound and then a long one."
"If you recall the original Batman TV series musical intro you’ll probably remember the way they sang ‘Bat-maaaaaaaan’," she adds.
The dolphin spontaneously vocalised to the rhythms, so the researchers started to reward the male with fish whenever it matched its ‘singing’ to the rhythms.
By the end of the studies, the scientists could show an object, such as the Batman doll, which represented a certain rhythm-vocalisation combo to the dolphin, and it would create the correct sounds both vocally and using the switch.
Originally by Jason Schultz at LawGeek, 9:57 PM
