0:00:00.000,0:00:02.000
Diana Reiss: You may think you're looking

0:00:02.000,0:00:06.000
through a window at a dolphin spinning playfully,

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.000
but what you're actually looking through

0:00:09.000,0:00:11.000
is a two-way mirror at a dolphin

0:00:11.000,0:00:14.000
looking at itself spinning playfully.

0:00:14.000,0:00:16.000
This is a dolphin that is self-aware.

0:00:16.000,0:00:18.000
This dolphin has self-awareness.

0:00:18.000,0:00:20.000
It's a young dolphin named Bayley.

0:00:20.000,0:00:23.000
I've been very interested in understanding the nature

0:00:23.000,0:00:27.000
of the intelligence of dolphins for the past 30 years.

0:00:27.000,0:00:30.000
How do we explore intelligence in this animal

0:00:30.000,0:00:31.000
that's so different from us?

0:00:31.000,0:00:34.000
And what I've used is a very simple research tool,

0:00:34.000,0:00:37.000
a mirror, and we've gained great information,

0:00:37.000,0:00:40.000
reflections of these animal minds.

0:00:40.000,0:00:44.000
Dolphins aren't the only animals, the only non-human animals,

0:00:44.000,0:00:46.000
to show mirror self-recognition.

0:00:46.000,0:00:49.000
We used to think this was a uniquely human ability,

0:00:49.000,0:00:52.000
but we learned that the great apes, our closest relatives,

0:00:52.000,0:00:54.000
also show this ability.

0:00:54.000,0:00:56.000
Then we showed it in dolphins,

0:00:56.000,0:00:58.000
and then later in elephants.

0:00:58.000,0:01:00.000
We did this work in my lab with the dolphins and elephants,

0:01:00.000,0:01:03.000
and it's been recently shown in the magpie.

0:01:03.000,0:01:06.000
Now, it's interesting, because we've embraced

0:01:06.000,0:01:10.000
this Darwinian view of a continuity in physical evolution,

0:01:10.000,0:01:11.000
this physical continuity.

0:01:11.000,0:01:15.000
But we've been much more reticent, much slower

0:01:15.000,0:01:18.000
at recognizing this continuity in cognition,

0:01:18.000,0:01:21.000
in emotion, in consciousness in other animals.

0:01:21.000,0:01:24.000
Other animals are conscious.

0:01:24.000,0:01:27.000
They're emotional. They're aware.

0:01:27.000,0:01:30.000
There have been multitudes of studies with many species

0:01:30.000,0:01:34.000
over the years that have given us exquisite evidence

0:01:34.000,0:01:37.000
for thinking and consciousness in other animals,

0:01:37.000,0:01:40.000
other animals that are quite different than we are in form.

0:01:40.000,0:01:43.000
We are not alone.

0:01:43.000,0:01:47.000
We are not alone in these abilities.

0:01:47.000,0:01:50.000
And I hope, and one of my biggest dreams,

0:01:50.000,0:01:53.000
is that, with our growing awareness

0:01:53.000,0:01:55.000
about the consciousness of others

0:01:55.000,0:01:57.000
and our relationship with the rest of the animal world,

0:01:57.000,0:02:00.000
that we'll give them the respect and protection

0:02:00.000,0:02:01.000
that they deserve.

0:02:01.000,0:02:03.000
So that's a wish I'm throwing out here for everybody,

0:02:03.000,0:02:07.000
and I hope I can really engage you in this idea.

0:02:07.000,0:02:09.000
Now, I want to return to dolphins,

0:02:09.000,0:02:11.000
because these are the animals that I feel like

0:02:11.000,0:02:14.000
I've been working up closely and personal with

0:02:14.000,0:02:15.000
for over 30 years.

0:02:15.000,0:02:17.000
And these are real personalities.

0:02:17.000,0:02:20.000
They are not persons, but they're personalities

0:02:20.000,0:02:22.000
in every sense of the word.

0:02:22.000,0:02:25.000
And you can't get more alien than the dolphin.

0:02:25.000,0:02:27.000
They are very different from us in body form.

0:02:27.000,0:02:30.000
They're radically different. They come from a radically different environment.

0:02:30.000,0:02:35.000
In fact, we're separated by 95 million years

0:02:35.000,0:02:37.000
of divergent evolution.

0:02:37.000,0:02:39.000
Look at this body.

0:02:39.000,0:02:42.000
And in every sense of making a pun here,

0:02:42.000,0:02:47.000
these are true non-terrestrials.

0:02:47.000,0:02:50.000
I wondered how we might interface with these animals.

0:02:50.000,0:02:53.000
In the 1980s, I developed an underwater keyboard.

0:02:53.000,0:02:56.000
This was a custom-made touch-screen keyboard.

0:02:56.000,0:02:59.000
What I wanted to do was give the dolphins choice and control.

0:02:59.000,0:03:01.000
These are big brains, highly social animals,

0:03:01.000,0:03:04.000
and I thought, well, if we give them choice and control,

0:03:04.000,0:03:06.000
if they can hit a symbol on this keyboard --

0:03:06.000,0:03:09.000
and by the way, it was interfaced by fiber optic cables

0:03:09.000,0:03:12.000
from Hewlett-Packard with an Apple II computer.

0:03:12.000,0:03:14.000
This seems prehistoric now,

0:03:14.000,0:03:16.000
but this was where we were with technology.

0:03:16.000,0:03:19.000
So the dolphins could hit a key, a symbol,

0:03:19.000,0:03:21.000
they heard a computer-generated whistle,

0:03:21.000,0:03:23.000
and they got an object or activity.

0:03:23.000,0:03:24.000
Now here's a little video.

0:03:24.000,0:03:27.000
This is Delphi and Pan, and you're going to see Delphi

0:03:27.000,0:03:31.000
hitting a key, he hears a computer-generated whistle -- (Whistle) --

0:03:31.000,0:03:35.000
and gets a ball, so they can actually ask for things they want.

0:03:35.000,0:03:39.000
What was remarkable is, they explored this keyboard

0:03:39.000,0:03:42.000
on their own. There was no intervention on our part.

0:03:42.000,0:03:44.000
They explored the keyboard. They played around with it.

0:03:44.000,0:03:46.000
They figured out how it worked.

0:03:46.000,0:03:48.000
And they started to quickly imitate the sounds

0:03:48.000,0:03:51.000
they were hearing on the keyboard.

0:03:51.000,0:03:53.000
They imitated on their own.

0:03:53.000,0:03:55.000
Beyond that, though, they started learning

0:03:55.000,0:03:58.000
associations between the symbols, the sounds

0:03:58.000,0:04:01.000
and the objects.

0:04:01.000,0:04:04.000
What we saw was self-organized learning,

0:04:04.000,0:04:07.000
and now I'm imagining, what can we do

0:04:07.000,0:04:09.000
with new technologies?

0:04:09.000,0:04:12.000
How can we create interfaces, new windows into

0:04:12.000,0:04:17.000
the minds of animals, with the technologies that exist today?

0:04:17.000,0:04:20.000
So I was thinking about this, and then, one day,

0:04:20.000,0:04:24.000
I got a call from Peter.

0:04:26.000,0:04:28.000
Peter Gabriel: I make noises for a living.

0:04:28.000,0:04:30.000
On a good day, it's music,

0:04:30.000,0:04:32.000
and I want to talk a little bit about

0:04:32.000,0:04:36.000
the most amazing music-making experience I ever had.

0:04:36.000,0:04:39.000
I'm a farm boy. I grew up surrounded by animals,

0:04:39.000,0:04:41.000
and I would look in these eyes and wonder

0:04:41.000,0:04:43.000
what was going on there?

0:04:43.000,0:04:45.000
So as an adult, when I started to read about

0:04:45.000,0:04:48.000
the amazing breakthroughs with Penny Patterson and Koko,

0:04:48.000,0:04:52.000
with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Kanzi, Panbanisha,

0:04:52.000,0:04:54.000
Irene Pepperberg, Alex the parrot,

0:04:54.000,0:04:57.000
I got all excited.

0:04:57.000,0:04:58.000
What was amazing to me also

0:04:58.000,0:05:02.000
was they seemed a lot more adept

0:05:02.000,0:05:05.000
at getting a handle on our language

0:05:05.000,0:05:09.000
than we were on getting a handle on theirs.

0:05:09.000,0:05:13.000
I work with a lot of musicians from around the world,

0:05:13.000,0:05:16.000
and often we don't have any common language at all,

0:05:16.000,0:05:20.000
but we sit down behind our instruments,

0:05:20.000,0:05:23.000
and suddenly there's a way for us to connect and emote.

0:05:23.000,0:05:26.000
So I started cold-calling, and eventually got through

0:05:26.000,0:05:28.000
to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,

0:05:28.000,0:05:30.000
and she invited me down.

0:05:30.000,0:05:34.000
I went down, and the bonobos

0:05:34.000,0:05:37.000
had had access to percussion instruments,

0:05:37.000,0:05:40.000
musical toys, but never before to a keyboard.

0:05:40.000,0:05:42.000
At first they did what infants do,

0:05:42.000,0:05:44.000
just bashed it with their fists,

0:05:44.000,0:05:47.000
and then I asked, through Sue,

0:05:47.000,0:05:51.000
if Panbanisha could try with one finger only.

0:05:51.000,0:05:56.000
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Can you play a grooming song?

0:05:56.000,0:05:58.000
I want to hear a grooming song.

0:05:58.000,0:06:02.000
Play a real quiet grooming song.

0:06:04.000,0:06:08.000
PG: So groom was the subject of the piece.

0:06:08.000,0:06:13.000
(Music)

0:06:25.000,0:06:29.000
So I'm just behind, jamming,

0:06:29.000,0:06:34.000
yeah, this is what we started with.

0:06:34.000,0:06:37.000
Sue's encouraging her to continue a little more.

0:06:37.000,0:06:42.000
(Music)

0:07:26.000,0:07:31.000
She discovers a note she likes,

0:07:31.000,0:07:35.000
finds the octave.

0:07:35.000,0:07:40.000
She'd never sat at a keyboard before.

0:07:46.000,0:07:50.000
Nice triplets.

0:08:00.000,0:08:04.000
SSR: You did good. That was very good.

0:08:04.000,0:08:05.000
PG: She hit good.

0:08:05.000,0:08:10.000
(Applause)

0:08:10.000,0:08:15.000
So that night, we began to dream,

0:08:15.000,0:08:17.000
and we thought, perhaps the most amazing tool

0:08:17.000,0:08:20.000
that man's created is the Internet,

0:08:20.000,0:08:23.000
and what would happen if we could somehow

0:08:23.000,0:08:25.000
find new interfaces,

0:08:25.000,0:08:29.000
visual-audio interfaces that would allow

0:08:29.000,0:08:31.000
these remarkable sentient beings

0:08:31.000,0:08:34.000
that we share the planet with access?

0:08:34.000,0:08:38.000
And Sue Savage-Rumbaugh got excited about that,

0:08:38.000,0:08:40.000
called her friend Steve Woodruff,

0:08:40.000,0:08:43.000
and we began hustling all sorts of people

0:08:43.000,0:08:46.000
whose work related or was inspiring,

0:08:46.000,0:08:48.000
which led us to Diana,

0:08:48.000,0:08:51.000
and led us to Neil.

0:08:51.000,0:08:53.000
Neil Gershenfeld: Thanks, Peter.[br]PG: Thank you.

0:08:53.000,0:08:57.000
(Applause)

0:08:57.000,0:08:59.000
NG: So Peter approached me.

0:08:59.000,0:09:01.000
I lost it when I saw that clip.

0:09:01.000,0:09:05.000
He approached me with a vision of doing these things

0:09:05.000,0:09:06.000
not for people, for animals.

0:09:06.000,0:09:09.000
And then I was struck in the history of the Internet.

0:09:09.000,0:09:13.000
This is what the Internet looked like when it was born

0:09:13.000,0:09:15.000
and you can call that the Internet

0:09:15.000,0:09:17.000
of middle-aged white men,

0:09:17.000,0:09:18.000
mostly middle-aged white men.

0:09:18.000,0:09:20.000
Vint Cerf: (Laughs)

0:09:20.000,0:09:23.000
(Laughter)

0:09:23.000,0:09:25.000
NG: Speaking as one.

0:09:25.000,0:09:28.000
Then, when I first came to TED,

0:09:28.000,0:09:30.000
which was where I met Peter, I showed this.

0:09:30.000,0:09:32.000
This is a $1 web server,

0:09:32.000,0:09:35.000
and at the time that was radical.

0:09:35.000,0:09:39.000
And the possibility of making a web server for a dollar

0:09:39.000,0:09:42.000
grew into what became known as the Internet of Things,

0:09:42.000,0:09:45.000
which is literally an industry now with tremendous implications

0:09:45.000,0:09:48.000
for health care, energy efficiency.

0:09:48.000,0:09:49.000
And we were happy with ourselves.

0:09:49.000,0:09:51.000
And then when Peter showed me that,

0:09:51.000,0:09:52.000
I realized we had missed something,

0:09:52.000,0:09:55.000
which is the rest of the planet.

0:09:55.000,0:09:57.000
So we started up this interspecies Internet project.

0:09:57.000,0:09:59.000
Now we started talking with TED

0:09:59.000,0:10:01.000
about how you bring dolphins and great apes and elephants

0:10:01.000,0:10:04.000
to TED, and we realized that wouldn't work.

0:10:04.000,0:10:06.000
So we're going to bring you to them.

0:10:06.000,0:10:09.000
So if we could switch to the audio from this computer,

0:10:09.000,0:10:12.000
we've been video conferencing with cognitive animals,

0:10:12.000,0:10:13.000
and we're going to have each of them

0:10:13.000,0:10:15.000
just briefly introduce them.

0:10:15.000,0:10:17.000
And so if we could also have this up, great.

0:10:17.000,0:10:19.000
So the first site we're going to meet

0:10:19.000,0:10:22.000
is Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, with orangutans.

0:10:22.000,0:10:25.000
In the daytime they live outside. It's nighttime there now.

0:10:25.000,0:10:28.000
So can you please go ahead?

0:10:28.000,0:10:31.000
Terri Cox: Hi, I'm Terri Cox

0:10:31.000,0:10:33.000
with the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas,

0:10:33.000,0:10:37.000
and with me I have KeraJaan and Mei,

0:10:37.000,0:10:39.000
two of our Bornean orangutans.

0:10:39.000,0:10:44.000
During the day, they have a beautiful, large outdoor habitat,

0:10:44.000,0:10:47.000
and at night, they come into this habitat,

0:10:47.000,0:10:48.000
into their night quarters,

0:10:48.000,0:10:50.000
where they can have a climate-controlled

0:10:50.000,0:10:52.000
and secure environment to sleep in.

0:10:52.000,0:10:57.000
We participate in the Apps for Apes program

0:10:57.000,0:11:00.000
Orangutan Outreach, and we use iPads

0:11:00.000,0:11:02.000
to help stimulate and enrich the animals,

0:11:02.000,0:11:04.000
and also help raise awareness

0:11:04.000,0:11:06.000
for these critically endangered animals.

0:11:06.000,0:11:11.000
And they share 97 percent of our DNA

0:11:11.000,0:11:12.000
and are incredibly intelligent,

0:11:12.000,0:11:16.000
so it's so exciting to think of all the opportunities

0:11:16.000,0:11:19.000
that we have via technology and the Internet

0:11:19.000,0:11:23.000
to really enrich their lives and open up their world.

0:11:23.000,0:11:25.000
We're really excited about the possibility

0:11:25.000,0:11:27.000
of an interspecies Internet,

0:11:27.000,0:11:31.000
and K.J. has been enjoying the conference very much.

0:11:31.000,0:11:33.000
NG: That's great. When we were rehearsing last night,

0:11:33.000,0:11:35.000
he had fun watching the elephants.

0:11:35.000,0:11:39.000
Next user group are the dolphins at the National Aquarium.

0:11:39.000,0:11:41.000
Please go ahead.

0:11:41.000,0:11:42.000
Allison Ginsburg: Good evening.

0:11:42.000,0:11:43.000
Well, my name is Allison Ginsburg,

0:11:43.000,0:11:46.000
and we're live in Baltimore at the National Aquarium.

0:11:46.000,0:11:50.000
Joining me are three of our eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins:

0:11:50.000,0:11:53.000
20-year-old Chesapeake, who was our first dolphin born here,

0:11:53.000,0:11:56.000
her four-year-old daughter Bayley,

0:11:56.000,0:12:00.000
and her half sister, 11-year-old Maya.

0:12:00.000,0:12:01.000
Now, here at the National Aquarium

0:12:01.000,0:12:04.000
we are committed to excellence in animal care,

0:12:04.000,0:12:07.000
to research, and to conservation.

0:12:07.000,0:12:10.000
The dolphins are pretty intrigued as to what's going on here tonight.

0:12:10.000,0:12:12.000
They're not really used to having cameras here

0:12:12.000,0:12:14.000
at 8 o'clock at night.

0:12:14.000,0:12:16.000
In addition, we are very committed to doing

0:12:16.000,0:12:18.000
different types of research.

0:12:18.000,0:12:21.000
As Diana mentioned, our animals are involved

0:12:21.000,0:12:24.000
in many different research studies.

0:12:34.000,0:12:38.000
NG: Those are for you.

0:12:38.000,0:12:40.000
Okay, that's great, thank you.

0:12:40.000,0:12:43.000
And the third user group, in Thailand,

0:12:43.000,0:12:47.000
is Think Elephants. Go ahead, Josh.

0:12:47.000,0:12:49.000
Josh Plotnik: Hi, my name is Josh Plotnik,

0:12:49.000,0:12:52.000
and I'm with Think Elephants International,

0:12:52.000,0:12:54.000
and we're here in the Golden Triangle of Thailand

0:12:54.000,0:12:57.000
with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation elephants.

0:12:57.000,0:13:00.000
And we have 26 elephants here,

0:13:00.000,0:13:04.000
and our research is focused on the evolution of intelligence with elephants,

0:13:04.000,0:13:06.000
but our foundation Think Elephants is focused

0:13:06.000,0:13:09.000
on bringing elephants into classrooms around the world

0:13:09.000,0:13:11.000
virtually like this and showing people

0:13:11.000,0:13:13.000
how incredible these animals are.

0:13:13.000,0:13:16.000
So we're able to bring the camera right up to the elephant,

0:13:16.000,0:13:18.000
put food into the elephant's mouth,

0:13:18.000,0:13:20.000
show people what's going on inside their mouths,

0:13:20.000,0:13:22.000
and show everyone around the world

0:13:22.000,0:13:25.000
how incredible these animals really are.

0:13:25.000,0:13:28.000
NG: Okay, that's great. Thanks Josh.

0:13:28.000,0:13:30.000
And once again, we've been building great relationships

0:13:30.000,0:13:32.000
among them just since we've been rehearsing.

0:13:32.000,0:13:35.000
So at that point, if we can go back to the other computer,

0:13:35.000,0:13:37.000
we were starting to think about how you integrate

0:13:37.000,0:13:40.000
the rest of the biomass of the planet into the Internet,

0:13:40.000,0:13:43.000
and we went to the best possible person

0:13:43.000,0:13:46.000
I can think of, which is Vint Cerf,

0:13:46.000,0:13:49.000
who is one of the founders who gave us the Internet. Vint?

0:13:49.000,0:13:51.000
VC: Thank you, Neil.

0:13:51.000,0:13:55.000
(Applause)

0:13:55.000,0:14:00.000
A long time ago in a galaxy — oops, wrong script.

0:14:00.000,0:14:02.000
Forty years ago, Bob Kahn and I

0:14:02.000,0:14:04.000
did the design of the Internet.

0:14:04.000,0:14:06.000
Thirty years ago, we turned it on.

0:14:06.000,0:14:10.000
Just last year, we turned on the production Internet.

0:14:10.000,0:14:12.000
You've been using the experimental version

0:14:12.000,0:14:13.000
for the last 30 years.

0:14:13.000,0:14:16.000
The production version, it uses IP version 6.

0:14:16.000,0:14:21.000
It has 3.4 times 10 to the 38th possible terminations.

0:14:21.000,0:14:25.000
That's a number only that Congress can appreciate.

0:14:25.000,0:14:29.000
But it leads to what is coming next.

0:14:29.000,0:14:31.000
When Bob and I did this design,

0:14:31.000,0:14:35.000
we thought we were building a system to connect computers together.

0:14:35.000,0:14:37.000
What we very quickly discovered

0:14:37.000,0:14:40.000
is that this was a system for connecting people together.

0:14:40.000,0:14:42.000
And what you've seen tonight

0:14:42.000,0:14:46.000
tells you that we should not restrict this network

0:14:46.000,0:14:49.000
to one species,

0:14:49.000,0:14:52.000
that these other intelligent, sentient species

0:14:52.000,0:14:55.000
should be part of the system too.

0:14:55.000,0:14:57.000
This is the system as it looks today, by the way.

0:14:57.000,0:15:00.000
This is what the Internet looks like to a computer

0:15:00.000,0:15:03.000
that's trying to figure out where the traffic

0:15:03.000,0:15:04.000
is supposed to go.

0:15:04.000,0:15:07.000
This is generated by a program

0:15:07.000,0:15:10.000
that's looking at the connectivity of the Internet,

0:15:10.000,0:15:13.000
and how all the various networks are connected together.

0:15:13.000,0:15:16.000
There are about 400,000 networks, interconnected,

0:15:16.000,0:15:21.000
run independently by 400,000 different operating agencies,

0:15:21.000,0:15:22.000
and the only reason this works

0:15:22.000,0:15:26.000
is that they all use the same standard TCP/IP protocols.

0:15:26.000,0:15:29.000
Well, you know where this is headed.

0:15:29.000,0:15:31.000
The Internet of Things tell us

0:15:31.000,0:15:35.000
that a lot of computer-enabled appliances and devices

0:15:35.000,0:15:38.000
are going to become part of this system too:

0:15:38.000,0:15:40.000
appliances that you use around the house,

0:15:40.000,0:15:42.000
that you use in your office,

0:15:42.000,0:15:45.000
that you carry around with yourself or in the car.

0:15:45.000,0:15:47.000
That's the Internet of Things that's coming.

0:15:47.000,0:15:50.000
Now, what's important about what these people are doing

0:15:50.000,0:15:52.000
is that they're beginning to learn

0:15:52.000,0:15:55.000
how to communicate with species

0:15:55.000,0:15:57.000
that are not us

0:15:57.000,0:16:00.000
but share a common sensory environment.

0:16:00.000,0:16:02.000
We're beginning to explore what it means

0:16:02.000,0:16:04.000
to communicate with something

0:16:04.000,0:16:06.000
that isn't just another person.

0:16:06.000,0:16:09.000
Well, you can see what's coming next.

0:16:09.000,0:16:12.000
All kinds of possible sentient beings

0:16:12.000,0:16:13.000
may be interconnected through this system,

0:16:13.000,0:16:17.000
and I can't wait to see these experiments unfold.

0:16:17.000,0:16:19.000
What happens after that?

0:16:19.000,0:16:21.000
Well, let's see.

0:16:21.000,0:16:25.000
There are machines that need to talk to machines

0:16:25.000,0:16:28.000
and that we need to talk to, and so as time goes on,

0:16:28.000,0:16:30.000
we're going to have to learn

0:16:30.000,0:16:31.000
how to communicate with computers

0:16:31.000,0:16:34.000
and how to get computers to communicate with us

0:16:34.000,0:16:36.000
in the way that we're accustomed to,

0:16:36.000,0:16:39.000
not with keyboards, not with mice,

0:16:39.000,0:16:41.000
but with speech and gestures

0:16:41.000,0:16:44.000
and all the natural human language that we're accustomed to.

0:16:44.000,0:16:46.000
So we'll need something like C3PO

0:16:46.000,0:16:49.000
to become a translator between ourselves

0:16:49.000,0:16:51.000
and some of the other machines we live with.

0:16:51.000,0:16:54.000
Now, there is a project that's underway

0:16:54.000,0:16:56.000
called the interplanetary Internet.

0:16:56.000,0:16:58.000
It's in operation between Earth and Mars.

0:16:58.000,0:17:01.000
It's operating on the International Space Station.

0:17:01.000,0:17:05.000
It's part of the spacecraft that's in orbit around the Sun

0:17:05.000,0:17:07.000
that's rendezvoused with two planets.

0:17:07.000,0:17:09.000
So the interplanetary system is on its way,

0:17:09.000,0:17:11.000
but there's a last project,

0:17:11.000,0:17:14.000
which the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,

0:17:14.000,0:17:16.000
which funded the original ARPANET,

0:17:16.000,0:17:19.000
funded the Internet, funded the interplanetary architecture,

0:17:19.000,0:17:22.000
is now funding a project to design a spacecraft

0:17:22.000,0:17:27.000
to get to the nearest star in 100 years' time.

0:17:27.000,0:17:29.000
What that means is that what we're learning

0:17:29.000,0:17:31.000
with these interactions with other species

0:17:31.000,0:17:33.000
will teach us, ultimately,

0:17:33.000,0:17:37.000
how we might interact with an alien from another world.

0:17:37.000,0:17:40.000
I can hardly wait.

0:17:40.000,0:17:47.000
(Applause)

0:17:47.000,0:17:48.000
June Cohen: So first of all, thank you,

0:17:48.000,0:17:51.000
and I would like to acknowledge that four people

0:17:51.000,0:17:53.000
who could talk to us for full four days

0:17:53.000,0:17:55.000
actually managed to stay to four minutes each,

0:17:55.000,0:17:56.000
and we thank you for that.

0:17:56.000,0:17:58.000
I have so many questions,

0:17:58.000,0:18:00.000
but maybe a few practical things that the audience might want to know.

0:18:00.000,0:18:04.000
You're launching this idea here at TED —[br]PG: Today.

0:18:04.000,0:18:05.000
JC: Today. This is the first time you're talking about it.

0:18:05.000,0:18:07.000
Tell me a little bit about where you're going to take the idea.

0:18:07.000,0:18:09.000
What's next?

0:18:09.000,0:18:12.000
PG: I think we want to engage as many people

0:18:12.000,0:18:14.000
here as possible in helping us

0:18:14.000,0:18:18.000
think of smart interfaces that will make all this possible.

0:18:18.000,0:18:20.000
NG: And just mechanically,

0:18:20.000,0:18:22.000
there's a 501(c)(3) and web infrastructure

0:18:22.000,0:18:24.000
and all of that, but it's not quite ready to turn on,

0:18:24.000,0:18:26.000
so we'll roll that out, and contact us

0:18:26.000,0:18:28.000
if you want the information on it.

0:18:28.000,0:18:31.000
The idea is this will be -- much like the Internet functions

0:18:31.000,0:18:32.000
as a network of networks,

0:18:32.000,0:18:34.000
which is Vint's core contribution,

0:18:34.000,0:18:36.000
this will be a wrapper around all of these initiatives,

0:18:36.000,0:18:39.000
that are wonderful individually, to link them globally.

0:18:39.000,0:18:40.000
JC: Right, and do you have a web address

0:18:40.000,0:18:41.000
that we might look for yet?

0:18:41.000,0:18:44.000
NG: Shortly.[br]JC: Shortly. We will come back to you on that.

0:18:44.000,0:18:48.000
And very quickly, just to clarify.

0:18:48.000,0:18:50.000
Some people might have looked at the video that you showed

0:18:50.000,0:18:51.000
and thought, well, that's just a webcam.

0:18:51.000,0:18:52.000
What's special about it?

0:18:52.000,0:18:54.000
If you could talk for just a moment

0:18:54.000,0:18:56.000
about how you want to go past that?

0:18:56.000,0:18:59.000
NG: So this is scalable video infrastructure,

0:18:59.000,0:19:02.000
not for a few to a few but many to many,

0:19:02.000,0:19:05.000
so that it scales to symmetrical video sharing

0:19:05.000,0:19:08.000
and content sharing across these sites around the planet.

0:19:08.000,0:19:11.000
So there's a lot of back-end signal processing,

0:19:11.000,0:19:13.000
not for one to many, but for many to many.

0:19:13.000,0:19:15.000
JC: Right, and then on a practical level,

0:19:15.000,0:19:16.000
which technologies are you looking at first?

0:19:16.000,0:19:20.000
I know you mentioned that a keyboard is a really key part of this.

0:19:20.000,0:19:23.000
DR: We're trying to develop an interactive touch screen for dolphins.

0:19:23.000,0:19:25.000
This is sort of a continuation of some of the earlier work,

0:19:25.000,0:19:29.000
and we just got our first seed money today towards that,

0:19:29.000,0:19:30.000
so it's our first project.

0:19:30.000,0:19:32.000
JC: Before the talk, even.[br]DR: Yeah.

0:19:32.000,0:19:33.000
JC: Wow. Well done.

0:19:33.000,0:19:35.000
All right, well thank you all so much for joining us.

0:19:35.000,0:19:38.000
It's such a delight to have you on the stage.

0:19:38.000,0:19:39.000
DR: Thank you.[br]VC: Thank you.

0:19:39.000,0:19:44.000
(Applause)