TED talk: Joshua Klein's vending machine for crows
Joshua Klein's TED presentation about how he taught crows to drop coins into a peanut vending machine of his own design was my favorite talk at the conference.
Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he's come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal and human.LinkJoshua Klein will hack anything that moves -- his list includes "social systems, computer networks, institutions, consumer hardware and animal behavior." His latest project, though charmingly low-tech, has amazing implications for the human-animal interface.
Right now, Klein is working at Frog Design as a Principle Technologist, while developing mobile/social applications, health care-related systems and other tools that improve people’s lives. He's the author of the novel Roo'd, which was the first modern book (after Tarzan) to be ported to the iPhone.
"Klein envisions a new symbiotic relationship between these intelligent birds and the humans that encroach on their habitat. ... Why not turn a longstanding rivalry between man and crow into something that profits both species?"
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Over on Daily Coyote, there's a neat entry about how Charlie the coyote learned to turn on his owner's roomba so he could play with it.
If a coyote can figure out that, maybe we can build vending machines for that species that dispenses roadkill.
I loved hearing about this. There was a crow I was particular friends with when I was a little bit older than a toddler. His name was Bird. James Bird.
I post this in all crow-related threads: if you like them there birds and the folks that study them, pick up a copy of Bernd Heinrich's Ravens in Winter.
Going to check it out immediately, IWood.
I saw a documentary once where a crow had learned to drop nuts on a pedestrian crossing, let the traffic run over then to break them open, then walk out when the lights changed and eat safely. Seriously smart little suckers.
Oh, haha, I should have watched the video before I commented, because there it is. Good old David ;-)
I wonder if he's ever read any Casteneda...
I subscribe to the TEDTalks on Miro.
Very cool.
I think I'll teach my crows to steal other peoples coins, and put it in my ... Oh, hell. I'll never be rich.
"Principle technologist"? Interesting job title, that.
What's most fascinating is that he's also hacking human behavior, too. Sweet.
That 'longstanding rivalry' is not so accurate.
Corvids tell hunters where the game is - and they always have.
They know - but we forgot.
Hey, alisong76, you don't need a doc to see that. A co-worker of mine and I see crows doing this all the time in the alley behind our building.
The first time my co-worker (who'd seen it before) pointed it out to me, I thought this was part of an elaborate prank. You'll see the clever little buggers not just drop a nut (chestnuts, I think, they're all over the place here in vancouver) in the alley, but they'll stand next to the target nut, then look down the long, straight alley, looking at cars coming, and line up the nut so it'll get run over.
Car goes by, nut is cracked, happy crows.
BigPaul, although we have crows, we don't have all that many nut-bearing trees in this part of the world, so yes, I kinda do ;-)
This seems to me to be a great way to pick up cigarette buts. They are a terrible polluter and a pain in the ass to pick up. Crows cleaning up cigarette buts would be revolutionary.