John Lilly pasó por el MK-Ultra, inventó el tanque de privación sensorial, experimentó con diversos alucinógenos y fue pionero en la investigación del lenguaje de los delfines ... actividades no necesariamente separadas entre sí:

So I took ketamine by the tank at Marine World in Redwood City. I got into the tank, and I had a microphone near my head and an underwater speaker that went down into the dolphin tank. My microphone hit their loudspeaker underwater. So I waited. Then I began to feel that I was in direct contact with them, and when one of them whistled, a long whistle, it went from my feet right up tomy head. I went straight out of my body.They took me to the dolphin group mind. Boy, that was scary! I shouted and carried on. I said, "I can't even handle one dolphin, much less a group mind of dolphins!"

(...)

Have you ever given ketamine to a dolphin?

John Lilly: No. I gave them acid to see if it would knock out their respiration. It didn't. I couldn't understand what was happening to them on LSD except for one thing they did. They turned around along the tank at the same time, and suddenly they turned their beaks down and turned on their sonar straight downwards. I remember on my first acid trip the floor suddenly disappeared, and I saw the stars on the other side of the earth. So I stamped my foot on the floor to find it. That's what they were doing.

Qué llevó a este tipo a estudiar los delfines? simple:

While experimenting with sensory deprivation and LSD and ketamine, Lilly came to believe that he was in psychic contact with the aliens of what he called the Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO). The aliens were guiding events in Lilly's life to lead him to work with dolphins, which were psychic conduits between aliens and humans. The aliens are acting for the survival of organic lifeforms against artificial intelligences, called solid state lifeforms.

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El videojuego "Ecco the dolphin" tendrá algo que ver? Si.