Discussion
"We then used machine learning algorithms, training an artificial intelligence on the acoustic properties of these thousands of cries to see if it could learn to identify the cause. If there was a distinct “hunger cry” or “discomfort cry”, the AI should have been able to detect it."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
Hold up, because a Trained #MOLE can't learn to recognise patterns in a deeply emotional form of communication, they aren't there? 😳
(1/3)
"To ensure this wasn’t just a limitation of technology, we repeated the experiment with human listeners. We had parents and nonparents first “train” on the cries of a specific baby, just as a parent would in real life, and then asked them to identify the cause of new cries from that same baby. They fared no better, scoring just 35 percent."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
Ok, this seems a bit more scientific. But it begs the question, why involve a Trained #MOLE at all?
(2/3)
"... we found that individual levels of empathy – not gender – were the strongest predictor of how intensely the brain’s “parental vigilance” network activated. Caring is a skill that is honed through practice, and it physically reshapes the brain of any dedicated caregiver, male or female."
#NicolasMathevon, 2025
(3/3)
"How mothers are 'gaslit' into suppressing their 'completely normal' anger"
#RuthBarber, #ABC News, 2025
Not just mothers either. Solo dads experienced similar kinds of normal frustration and anger about the situation we've been put in, and it's even more pathologised.
A space for Bonfire maintainers and contributors to communicate
