WEBVTT

00:00:00.859 --> 00:00:02.812
Diana Reiss: You may think you're looking

00:00:02.836 --> 00:00:06.918
through a window at a dolphin
spinning playfully,

00:00:06.942 --> 00:00:09.076
but what you're actually looking through

00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:11.637
is a two-way mirror at a dolphin

00:00:11.661 --> 00:00:14.827
looking at itself spinning playfully.

00:00:14.851 --> 00:00:16.950
This is a dolphin that is self-aware.

00:00:16.974 --> 00:00:18.572
This dolphin has self-awareness.

00:00:18.596 --> 00:00:20.652
It's a young dolphin named Bayley.

00:00:20.676 --> 00:00:23.700
I've been very interested
in understanding the nature

00:00:23.724 --> 00:00:27.123
of the intelligence of dolphins
for the past 30 years.

00:00:27.147 --> 00:00:30.307
How do we explore
intelligence in this animal

00:00:30.331 --> 00:00:31.797
that's so different from us?

00:00:31.821 --> 00:00:34.857
And what I've used is a very
simple research tool,

00:00:34.881 --> 00:00:37.437
a mirror, and we've gained
great information,

00:00:37.461 --> 00:00:40.894
reflections of these animal minds.

00:00:40.918 --> 00:00:44.494
Dolphins aren't the only animals,
the only non-human animals,

00:00:44.518 --> 00:00:46.634
to show mirror self-recognition.

00:00:46.658 --> 00:00:49.626
We used to think this
was a uniquely human ability,

00:00:49.650 --> 00:00:52.927
but we learned that the great
apes, our closest relatives,

00:00:52.951 --> 00:00:54.512
also show this ability.

00:00:54.536 --> 00:00:56.211
Then we showed it in dolphins,

00:00:56.235 --> 00:00:58.223
and then later in elephants.

00:00:58.247 --> 00:01:01.057
We did this work in my lab
with the dolphins and elephants,

00:01:01.081 --> 00:01:03.226
and it's been recently
shown in the magpie.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:06.126
Now, it's interesting,
because we've embraced

00:01:06.150 --> 00:01:10.148
this Darwinian view of a continuity
in physical evolution,

00:01:10.172 --> 00:01:11.740
this physical continuity.

00:01:11.764 --> 00:01:15.023
But we've been much more
reticent, much slower

00:01:15.047 --> 00:01:18.959
at recognizing this
continuity in cognition,

00:01:18.983 --> 00:01:21.943
in emotion, in consciousness
in other animals.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:21.967 --> 00:01:24.509
Other animals are conscious.

00:01:24.533 --> 00:01:27.799
They're emotional. They're aware.

00:01:27.823 --> 00:01:30.684
There have been multitudes
of studies with many species

00:01:30.708 --> 00:01:34.255
over the years that have
given us exquisite evidence

00:01:34.279 --> 00:01:37.126
for thinking and consciousness
in other animals,

00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:40.717
other animals that are quite
different than we are in form.

00:01:40.741 --> 00:01:43.410
We are not alone.

00:01:43.434 --> 00:01:47.540
We are not alone in these abilities.

00:01:47.564 --> 00:01:50.905
And I hope, and one of my biggest dreams,

00:01:50.929 --> 00:01:53.676
is that, with our growing awareness

00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:55.272
about the consciousness of others

00:01:55.296 --> 00:01:57.916
and our relationship with the rest
of the animal world,

00:01:57.940 --> 00:02:00.506
that we'll give them
the respect and protection

00:02:00.530 --> 00:02:01.387
that they deserve.

00:02:01.411 --> 00:02:03.935
So that's a wish I'm throwing
out here for everybody,

00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:07.776
and I hope I can really
engage you in this idea.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:09.419
Now, I want to return to dolphins,

00:02:09.443 --> 00:02:11.635
because these are the animals
that I feel like

00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:14.180
I've been working up closely
and personal with

00:02:14.204 --> 00:02:15.590
for over 30 years.

00:02:15.614 --> 00:02:17.439
And these are real personalities.

00:02:17.463 --> 00:02:20.540
They are not persons,
but they're personalities

00:02:20.564 --> 00:02:22.026
in every sense of the word.

00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:25.212
And you can't get more
alien than the dolphin.

00:02:25.236 --> 00:02:27.708
They are very different
from us in body form.

00:02:27.732 --> 00:02:31.447
They're radically different. They come
from a radically different environment.

00:02:31.471 --> 00:02:35.057
In fact, we're separated
by 95 million years

00:02:35.081 --> 00:02:37.203
of divergent evolution.

00:02:37.227 --> 00:02:39.103
Look at this body.

00:02:39.127 --> 00:02:42.793
And in every sense of making a pun here,

00:02:42.817 --> 00:02:47.156
these are true non-terrestrials.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:50.604
I wondered how we might
interface with these animals.

00:02:50.628 --> 00:02:53.926
In the 1980s, I developed
an underwater keyboard.

00:02:53.950 --> 00:02:56.345
This was a custom-made
touch-screen keyboard.

00:02:56.369 --> 00:02:59.274
What I wanted to do was give
the dolphins choice and control.

00:02:59.298 --> 00:03:01.396
These are big brains,
highly social animals,

00:03:01.420 --> 00:03:04.562
and I thought, well, if we give
them choice and control,

00:03:04.586 --> 00:03:06.634
if they can hit a symbol
on this keyboard --

00:03:06.658 --> 00:03:09.305
and by the way, it was interfaced
by fiber optic cables

00:03:09.329 --> 00:03:12.175
from Hewlett-Packard
with an Apple II computer.

00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:14.062
This seems prehistoric now,

00:03:14.086 --> 00:03:16.259
but this was where
we were with technology.

00:03:16.283 --> 00:03:19.082
So the dolphins could hit a key, a symbol,

00:03:19.106 --> 00:03:21.256
they heard a computer-generated whistle,

00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.061
and they got an object or activity.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:23.085 --> 00:03:24.479
Now here's a little video.

00:03:24.503 --> 00:03:27.297
This is Delphi and Pan,
and you're going to see Delphi

00:03:27.321 --> 00:03:31.446
hitting a key, he hears a computer-generated
whistle -- (Whistle) --

00:03:31.470 --> 00:03:35.159
and gets a ball, so they can
actually ask for things they want.

00:03:35.183 --> 00:03:39.298
What was remarkable is,
they explored this keyboard

00:03:39.322 --> 00:03:42.645
on their own. There was no
intervention on our part.

00:03:42.669 --> 00:03:45.289
They explored the keyboard.
They played around with it.

00:03:45.313 --> 00:03:46.848
They figured out how it worked.

00:03:46.872 --> 00:03:49.063
And they started to quickly
imitate the sounds

00:03:49.087 --> 00:03:51.812
they were hearing on the keyboard.

00:03:51.836 --> 00:03:53.769
They imitated on their own.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:53.793 --> 00:03:55.940
Beyond that, though, they started learning

00:03:55.964 --> 00:03:58.700
associations
between the symbols, the sounds

00:03:58.724 --> 00:04:01.025
and the objects.

00:04:01.049 --> 00:04:04.552
What we saw was self-organized learning,

00:04:04.576 --> 00:04:07.951
and now I'm imagining, what can we do

00:04:07.975 --> 00:04:09.353
with new technologies?

00:04:09.377 --> 00:04:12.288
How can we create interfaces,
new windows into

00:04:12.312 --> 00:04:17.209
the minds of animals,
with the technologies that exist today?

00:04:17.233 --> 00:04:20.296
So I was thinking about this,
and then, one day,

00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:24.280
I got a call from Peter.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:26.753 --> 00:04:28.753
Peter Gabriel: I make noises for a living.

00:04:28.777 --> 00:04:30.491
On a good day, it's music,

00:04:30.515 --> 00:04:32.277
and I want to talk a little bit about

00:04:32.301 --> 00:04:36.416
the most amazing music-making
experience I ever had.

00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:39.632
I'm a farm boy. I grew
up surrounded by animals,

00:04:39.656 --> 00:04:41.631
and I would look in these eyes and wonder

00:04:41.655 --> 00:04:43.326
what was going on there?

00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:45.594
So as an adult, when
I started to read about

00:04:45.618 --> 00:04:48.863
the amazing breakthroughs
with Penny Patterson and Koko,

00:04:48.887 --> 00:04:52.097
with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
and Kanzi, Panbanisha,

00:04:52.121 --> 00:04:54.518
Irene Pepperberg, Alex the parrot,

00:04:54.542 --> 00:04:56.986
I got all excited.

00:04:57.010 --> 00:04:58.957
What was amazing to me also

00:04:58.981 --> 00:05:02.786
was they seemed a lot more adept

00:05:02.810 --> 00:05:05.750
at getting a handle on our language

00:05:05.774 --> 00:05:09.914
than we were on getting
a handle on theirs.

00:05:09.938 --> 00:05:13.533
I work with a lot of musicians
from around the world,

00:05:13.557 --> 00:05:16.301
and often we don't have
any common language at all,

00:05:16.325 --> 00:05:19.988
but we sit down behind our instruments,

00:05:20.012 --> 00:05:23.325
and suddenly there's a way
for us to connect and emote.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:23.349 --> 00:05:26.141
So I started cold-calling,
and eventually got through

00:05:26.165 --> 00:05:28.274
to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,

00:05:28.298 --> 00:05:30.173
and she invited me down.

00:05:30.197 --> 00:05:34.555
I went down, and the bonobos

00:05:34.579 --> 00:05:37.326
had had access to percussion instruments,

00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:40.960
musical toys, but never
before to a keyboard.

00:05:40.984 --> 00:05:42.604
At first they did what infants do,

00:05:42.628 --> 00:05:44.635
just bashed it with their fists,

00:05:44.659 --> 00:05:47.108
and then I asked, through Sue,

00:05:47.132 --> 00:05:51.081
if Panbanisha could try
with one finger only.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:51.105 --> 00:05:56.258
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Can
you play a grooming song?

00:05:56.282 --> 00:05:58.184
I want to hear a grooming song.

00:05:58.208 --> 00:06:02.640
Play a real quiet grooming song.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:04.808 --> 00:06:08.376
PG: So groom was the subject of the piece.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:08.400 --> 00:06:13.212
(Music)

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:25.895 --> 00:06:29.641
So I'm just behind, jamming,

00:06:29.665 --> 00:06:34.386
yeah, this is what we started with.

00:06:34.410 --> 00:06:37.903
Sue's encouraging her
to continue a little more.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:37.927 --> 00:06:42.828
(Music)

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:26.746 --> 00:07:31.628
She discovers a note she likes,

00:07:31.652 --> 00:07:35.343
finds the octave.

00:07:35.367 --> 00:07:40.271
She'd never sat at a keyboard before.

00:07:46.178 --> 00:07:50.498
Nice triplets.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:00.709 --> 00:08:04.019
SSR: You did good. That was very good.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:04.043 --> 00:08:05.434
PG: She hit good.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:05.458 --> 00:08:10.925
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:15.170
So that night, we began to dream,

00:08:15.194 --> 00:08:17.945
and we thought, perhaps
the most amazing tool

00:08:17.969 --> 00:08:20.125
that man's created is the Internet,

00:08:20.149 --> 00:08:23.933
and what would happen if we could somehow

00:08:23.957 --> 00:08:25.829
find new interfaces,

00:08:25.853 --> 00:08:29.432
visual-audio interfaces that would allow

00:08:29.456 --> 00:08:31.792
these remarkable sentient beings

00:08:31.816 --> 00:08:34.378
that we share the planet with access?

00:08:34.402 --> 00:08:38.390
And Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
got excited about that,

00:08:38.414 --> 00:08:40.511
called her friend Steve Woodruff,

00:08:40.535 --> 00:08:43.599
and we began hustling all sorts of people

00:08:43.623 --> 00:08:46.662
whose work related or was inspiring,

00:08:46.686 --> 00:08:48.831
which led us to Diana,

00:08:48.855 --> 00:08:51.818
and led us to Neil.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:51.842 --> 00:08:54.033
Neil Gershenfeld: Thanks, Peter.
PG: Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:54.057 --> 00:08:57.642
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:57.666 --> 00:08:59.314
NG: So Peter approached me.

00:08:59.338 --> 00:09:01.934
I lost it when I saw that clip.

00:09:01.958 --> 00:09:04.994
He approached me with a vision
of doing these things

00:09:05.018 --> 00:09:06.608
not for people, for animals.

00:09:06.632 --> 00:09:09.386
And then I was struck
in the history of the Internet.

00:09:09.410 --> 00:09:13.289
This is what the Internet
looked like when it was born

00:09:13.313 --> 00:09:15.822
and you can call that the Internet

00:09:15.846 --> 00:09:17.450
of middle-aged white men,

00:09:17.474 --> 00:09:18.470
mostly middle-aged white men.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:18.494 --> 00:09:20.547
Vint Cerf: (Laughs)

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:20.571 --> 00:09:23.585
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:23.609 --> 00:09:25.207
NG: Speaking as one.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:25.231 --> 00:09:28.315
Then, when I first came to TED,

00:09:28.339 --> 00:09:30.441
which was where I met
Peter, I showed this.

00:09:30.465 --> 00:09:32.827
This is a $1 web server,

00:09:32.851 --> 00:09:35.276
and at the time that was radical.

00:09:35.300 --> 00:09:38.982
And the possibility of making
a web server for a dollar

00:09:39.006 --> 00:09:42.527
grew into what became known
as the Internet of Things,

00:09:42.551 --> 00:09:45.779
which is literally an industry
now with tremendous implications

00:09:45.803 --> 00:09:48.256
for health care, energy efficiency.

00:09:48.280 --> 00:09:49.673
And we were happy with ourselves.

00:09:49.697 --> 00:09:51.364
And then when Peter showed me that,

00:09:51.388 --> 00:09:53.055
I realized we had missed something,

00:09:53.079 --> 00:09:55.082
which is the rest of the planet.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:55.106 --> 00:09:57.583
So we started up this
interspecies Internet project.

00:09:57.607 --> 00:09:59.209
Now we started talking with TED

00:09:59.233 --> 00:10:01.948
about how you bring dolphins
and great apes and elephants

00:10:01.972 --> 00:10:04.523
to TED, and we realized
that wouldn't work.

00:10:04.547 --> 00:10:06.597
So we're going to bring you to them.

00:10:06.621 --> 00:10:09.193
So if we could switch
to the audio from this computer,

00:10:09.217 --> 00:10:12.538
we've been video conferencing
with cognitive animals,

00:10:12.562 --> 00:10:13.750
and we're going to have each of them

00:10:13.774 --> 00:10:15.485
just briefly introduce them.

00:10:15.509 --> 00:10:17.605
And so if we could also
have this up, great.

00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:19.432
So the first site we're going to meet

00:10:19.456 --> 00:10:22.500
is Cameron Park Zoo
in Waco, with orangutans.

00:10:22.524 --> 00:10:25.334
In the daytime they live outside.
It's nighttime there now.

00:10:25.358 --> 00:10:28.399
So can you please go ahead?

NOTE Paragraph

00:10:28.423 --> 00:10:31.058
Terri Cox: Hi, I'm Terri Cox

00:10:31.082 --> 00:10:33.488
with the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas,

00:10:33.512 --> 00:10:37.179
and with me I have KeraJaan and Mei,

00:10:37.203 --> 00:10:39.251
two of our Bornean orangutans.

00:10:39.275 --> 00:10:44.379
During the day, they have
a beautiful, large outdoor habitat,

00:10:44.403 --> 00:10:47.071
and at night, they come into this habitat,

00:10:47.095 --> 00:10:48.787
into their night quarters,

00:10:48.811 --> 00:10:50.716
where they can have a climate-controlled

00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:52.708
and secure environment to sleep in.

00:10:52.732 --> 00:10:57.103
We participate in the Apps
for Apes program

00:10:57.127 --> 00:11:00.536
Orangutan Outreach, and we use iPads

00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:02.725
to help stimulate and enrich the animals,

00:11:02.749 --> 00:11:04.434
and also help raise awareness

00:11:04.458 --> 00:11:06.871
for these critically endangered animals.

00:11:06.895 --> 00:11:11.119
And they share 97 percent of our DNA

00:11:11.143 --> 00:11:12.927
and are incredibly intelligent,

00:11:12.951 --> 00:11:16.438
so it's so exciting to think
of all the opportunities

00:11:16.462 --> 00:11:19.474
that we have via technology
and the Internet

00:11:19.498 --> 00:11:23.216
to really enrich their lives
and open up their world.

00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:25.293
We're really excited about the possibility

00:11:25.317 --> 00:11:27.143
of an interspecies Internet,

00:11:27.167 --> 00:11:31.496
and K.J. has
been enjoying the conference very much.

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:34.044
NG: That's great. When we were
rehearsing last night,

00:11:34.068 --> 00:11:35.940
he had fun watching the elephants.

00:11:35.964 --> 00:11:39.008
Next user group are the dolphins
at the National Aquarium.

00:11:39.032 --> 00:11:41.502
Please go ahead.

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:41.526 --> 00:11:42.651
Allison Ginsburg: Good evening.

00:11:42.675 --> 00:11:44.295
Well, my name is Allison Ginsburg,

00:11:44.319 --> 00:11:47.141
and we're live in Baltimore
at the National Aquarium.

00:11:47.165 --> 00:11:50.786
Joining me are three of our eight Atlantic
bottlenose dolphins:

00:11:50.810 --> 00:11:53.945
20-year-old Chesapeake,
who was our first dolphin born here,

00:11:53.969 --> 00:11:56.657
her four-year-old daughter Bayley,

00:11:56.681 --> 00:12:00.076
and her half sister, 11-year-old Maya.

00:12:00.100 --> 00:12:01.720
Now, here at the National Aquarium

00:12:01.744 --> 00:12:04.697
we are committed to excellence
in animal care,

00:12:04.721 --> 00:12:07.169
to research, and to conservation.

00:12:07.193 --> 00:12:10.481
The dolphins are pretty intrigued
as to what's going on here tonight.

00:12:10.505 --> 00:12:12.696
They're not really used
to having cameras here

00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.173
at 8 o'clock at night.

00:12:14.197 --> 00:12:16.907
In addition, we are very
committed to doing

00:12:16.931 --> 00:12:18.365
different types of research.

00:12:18.389 --> 00:12:20.978
As Diana mentioned,
our animals are involved

00:12:21.002 --> 00:12:24.113
in many different research studies.

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:34.927 --> 00:12:38.292
NG: Those are for you.

00:12:38.316 --> 00:12:40.090
Okay, that's great, thank you.

00:12:40.114 --> 00:12:43.332
And the third user group, in Thailand,

00:12:43.356 --> 00:12:47.685
is Think Elephants. Go ahead, Josh.

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:47.709 --> 00:12:49.960
Josh Plotnik: Hi, my name is Josh Plotnik,

00:12:49.984 --> 00:12:52.176
and I'm with Think
Elephants International,

00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:54.534
and we're here in the Golden
Triangle of Thailand

00:12:54.558 --> 00:12:57.609
with the Golden Triangle Asian
Elephant Foundation elephants.

00:12:57.633 --> 00:12:59.989
And we have 26 elephants here,

00:13:00.013 --> 00:13:04.182
and our research is focused on the evolution
of intelligence with elephants,

00:13:04.206 --> 00:13:06.545
but our foundation Think
Elephants is focused

00:13:06.569 --> 00:13:09.591
on bringing elephants
into classrooms around the world

00:13:09.615 --> 00:13:11.795
virtually like this and showing people

00:13:11.819 --> 00:13:13.928
how incredible these animals are.

00:13:13.952 --> 00:13:16.087
So we're able to bring the camera
right up to the elephant,

00:13:16.111 --> 00:13:18.305
put food into the elephant's mouth,

00:13:18.329 --> 00:13:20.751
show people what's going
on inside their mouths,

00:13:20.775 --> 00:13:22.887
and show everyone around the world

00:13:22.911 --> 00:13:25.791
how incredible these animals really are.

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:25.815 --> 00:13:28.295
NG: Okay, that's great. Thanks Josh.

00:13:28.319 --> 00:13:30.287
And once again, we've been building
great relationships

00:13:30.311 --> 00:13:32.743
among them just
since we've been rehearsing.

00:13:32.767 --> 00:13:35.529
So at that point, if we can go
back to the other computer,

00:13:35.553 --> 00:13:37.887
we were starting to think
about how you integrate

00:13:37.911 --> 00:13:40.736
the rest of the biomass
of the planet into the Internet,

00:13:40.760 --> 00:13:43.343
and we went to the best possible person

00:13:43.367 --> 00:13:46.006
I can think of, which is Vint Cerf,

00:13:46.030 --> 00:13:49.052
who is one of the founders
who gave us the Internet. Vint?

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:49.076 --> 00:13:51.420
VC: Thank you, Neil.

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:51.444 --> 00:13:55.006
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:13:55.030 --> 00:14:00.086
A long time ago in a galaxy
— oops, wrong script.

00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.556
Forty years ago, Bob Kahn and I

00:14:02.580 --> 00:14:04.155
did the design of the Internet.

00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:06.918
Thirty years ago, we turned it on.

00:14:06.942 --> 00:14:10.003
Just last year, we turned
on the production Internet.

00:14:10.027 --> 00:14:12.126
You've been using the experimental version

00:14:12.150 --> 00:14:13.602
for the last 30 years.

00:14:13.626 --> 00:14:16.956
The production version,
it uses IP version 6.

00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:21.956
It has 3.4 times 10 to the 38th
possible terminations.

00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:25.113
That's a number only that Congress
can appreciate.

00:14:25.137 --> 00:14:29.214
But it leads to what is coming next.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:29.238 --> 00:14:31.876
When Bob and I did this design,

00:14:31.900 --> 00:14:35.382
we thought we were building a system
to connect computers together.

00:14:35.406 --> 00:14:37.217
What we very quickly discovered

00:14:37.241 --> 00:14:40.400
is that this was a system
for connecting people together.

00:14:40.424 --> 00:14:42.868
And what you've seen tonight

00:14:42.892 --> 00:14:46.810
tells you that we should
not restrict this network

00:14:46.834 --> 00:14:48.992
to one species,

00:14:49.016 --> 00:14:52.833
that these other intelligent,
sentient species

00:14:52.857 --> 00:14:55.306
should be part of the system too.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:55.330 --> 00:14:57.664
This is the system as it
looks today, by the way.

00:14:57.688 --> 00:15:00.859
This is what the Internet
looks like to a computer

00:15:00.883 --> 00:15:03.129
that's trying to figure
out where the traffic

00:15:03.153 --> 00:15:04.778
is supposed to go.

00:15:04.802 --> 00:15:07.403
This is generated by a program

00:15:07.427 --> 00:15:10.152
that's looking at the connectivity
of the Internet,

00:15:10.176 --> 00:15:12.989
and how all the various networks
are connected together.

00:15:13.013 --> 00:15:16.354
There are about 400,000
networks, interconnected,

00:15:16.378 --> 00:15:21.493
run independently by 400,000
different operating agencies,

00:15:21.517 --> 00:15:22.946
and the only reason this works

00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:26.771
is that they all use the same
standard TCP/IP protocols.

NOTE Paragraph

00:15:26.795 --> 00:15:29.126
Well, you know where this is headed.

00:15:29.150 --> 00:15:31.417
The Internet of Things tell us

00:15:31.441 --> 00:15:35.713
that a lot of computer-enabled
appliances and devices

00:15:35.737 --> 00:15:38.169
are going to become part
of this system too:

00:15:38.193 --> 00:15:40.442
appliances that you use around the house,

00:15:40.466 --> 00:15:42.361
that you use in your office,

00:15:42.385 --> 00:15:44.986
that you carry around with yourself
or in the car.

00:15:45.010 --> 00:15:47.353
That's the Internet
of Things that's coming.

00:15:47.377 --> 00:15:50.155
Now, what's important
about what these people are doing

00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:52.506
is that they're beginning to learn

00:15:52.530 --> 00:15:55.756
how to communicate with species

00:15:55.780 --> 00:15:57.098
that are not us

00:15:57.122 --> 00:16:00.201
but share a common sensory environment.

00:16:00.225 --> 00:16:02.425
We're beginning to explore what it means

00:16:02.449 --> 00:16:03.989
to communicate with something

00:16:04.013 --> 00:16:06.351
that isn't just another person.

00:16:06.375 --> 00:16:09.077
Well, you can see what's coming next.

00:16:09.101 --> 00:16:12.005
All kinds of possible sentient beings

00:16:12.029 --> 00:16:14.029
may be interconnected through this system,

00:16:14.053 --> 00:16:17.146
and I can't wait to see
these experiments unfold.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:17.170 --> 00:16:19.161
What happens after that?

00:16:19.185 --> 00:16:21.891
Well, let's see.

00:16:21.915 --> 00:16:25.076
There are machines that need
to talk to machines

00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:28.334
and that we need to talk to,
and so as time goes on,

00:16:28.358 --> 00:16:30.153
we're going to have to learn

00:16:30.177 --> 00:16:31.921
how to communicate with computers

00:16:31.945 --> 00:16:34.420
and how to get computers
to communicate with us

00:16:34.444 --> 00:16:36.239
in the way that we're accustomed to,

00:16:36.263 --> 00:16:39.102
not with keyboards, not with mice,

00:16:39.126 --> 00:16:41.166
but with speech and gestures

00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:44.150
and all the natural human language
that we're accustomed to.

00:16:44.174 --> 00:16:46.287
So we'll need something like C3PO

00:16:46.311 --> 00:16:49.735
to become a translator between ourselves

00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.877
and some of the other
machines we live with.

NOTE Paragraph

00:16:51.901 --> 00:16:54.253
Now, there is a project that's underway

00:16:54.277 --> 00:16:56.075
called the interplanetary Internet.

00:16:56.099 --> 00:16:58.799
It's in operation between Earth and Mars.

00:16:58.823 --> 00:17:01.821
It's operating on the International
Space Station.

00:17:01.845 --> 00:17:05.512
It's part of the spacecraft
that's in orbit around the Sun

00:17:05.536 --> 00:17:07.334
that's rendezvoused with two planets.

00:17:07.358 --> 00:17:09.598
So the interplanetary
system is on its way,

00:17:09.623 --> 00:17:11.306
but there's a last project,

00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.102
which the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency,

00:17:14.126 --> 00:17:16.061
which funded the original ARPANET,

00:17:16.086 --> 00:17:19.551
funded the Internet, funded
the interplanetary architecture,

00:17:19.576 --> 00:17:22.887
is now funding a project
to design a spacecraft

00:17:22.911 --> 00:17:27.049
to get to the nearest
star in 100 years' time.

00:17:27.073 --> 00:17:29.652
What that means
is that what we're learning

00:17:29.676 --> 00:17:31.824
with these interactions with other species

00:17:31.848 --> 00:17:33.963
will teach us, ultimately,

00:17:33.987 --> 00:17:37.956
how we might interact
with an alien from another world.

00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:40.606
I can hardly wait.

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:40.630 --> 00:17:47.807
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:17:47.831 --> 00:17:48.785
June Cohen: So first of all, thank you,

00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:51.343
and I would like to acknowledge
that four people

00:17:51.367 --> 00:17:53.256
who could talk to us for full four days

00:17:53.280 --> 00:17:55.471
actually managed to stay
to four minutes each,

00:17:55.495 --> 00:17:56.854
and we thank you for that.

00:17:56.878 --> 00:17:58.133
I have so many questions,

00:17:58.157 --> 00:18:01.491
but maybe a few practical things
that the audience might want to know.

00:18:01.515 --> 00:18:04.017
You're launching this idea here at TED —
PG: Today.

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:04.041 --> 00:18:05.213
JC: Today. This is the first
time you're talking about it.

00:18:05.237 --> 00:18:08.237
Tell me a little bit about where
you're going to take the idea.

00:18:08.261 --> 00:18:09.270
What's next?

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:09.294 --> 00:18:12.558
PG: I think we want
to engage as many people

00:18:12.582 --> 00:18:14.618
here as possible in helping us

00:18:14.642 --> 00:18:18.967
think of smart interfaces
that will make all this possible.

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:18.991 --> 00:18:20.333
NG: And just mechanically,

00:18:20.357 --> 00:18:22.838
there's a 501(c)(3) and web infrastructure

00:18:22.862 --> 00:18:24.861
and all of that, but it's not
quite ready to turn on,

00:18:24.885 --> 00:18:26.893
so we'll roll that out, and contact us

00:18:26.917 --> 00:18:28.537
if you want the information on it.

00:18:28.561 --> 00:18:31.644
The idea is this will be -- much
like the Internet functions

00:18:31.668 --> 00:18:32.649
as a network of networks,

00:18:32.673 --> 00:18:34.293
which is Vint's core contribution,

00:18:34.317 --> 00:18:36.558
this will be a wrapper
around all of these initiatives,

00:18:36.582 --> 00:18:39.353
that are wonderful individually,
to link them globally.

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:39.377 --> 00:18:40.917
JC: Right, and do you have a web address

00:18:40.941 --> 00:18:41.961
that we might look for yet?

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:41.985 --> 00:18:44.747
NG: Shortly. JC: Shortly. We
will come back to you on that.

00:18:44.771 --> 00:18:48.024
And very quickly, just to clarify.

00:18:48.048 --> 00:18:50.231
Some people might have looked
at the video that you showed

00:18:50.255 --> 00:18:51.739
and thought, well, that's just a webcam.

00:18:51.763 --> 00:18:52.810
What's special about it?

00:18:52.834 --> 00:18:54.501
If you could talk for just a moment

00:18:54.525 --> 00:18:56.242
about how you want to go past that?

NOTE Paragraph

00:18:56.266 --> 00:18:59.759
NG: So this is scalable
video infrastructure,

00:18:59.783 --> 00:19:02.172
not for a few to a few but many to many,

00:19:02.196 --> 00:19:05.182
so that it scales
to symmetrical video sharing

00:19:05.206 --> 00:19:08.320
and content sharing across these
sites around the planet.

00:19:08.344 --> 00:19:11.008
So there's a lot of back-end
signal processing,

00:19:11.032 --> 00:19:13.626
not for one to many, but for many to many.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:13.650 --> 00:19:15.178
JC: Right, and then on a practical level,

00:19:15.202 --> 00:19:16.889
which technologies are you
looking at first?

00:19:16.913 --> 00:19:20.239
I know you mentioned that a keyboard
is a really key part of this.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:20.263 --> 00:19:23.275
DR: We're trying to develop
an interactive touch screen for dolphins.

00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:26.109
This is sort of a continuation
of some of the earlier work,

00:19:26.133 --> 00:19:28.989
and we just got our first seed
money today towards that,

00:19:29.013 --> 00:19:30.362
so it's our first project.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:30.386 --> 00:19:32.101
JC: Before the talk, even. DR: Yeah.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:32.125 --> 00:19:33.452
JC: Wow. Well done.

00:19:33.476 --> 00:19:35.953
All right, well thank you
all so much for joining us.

00:19:35.977 --> 00:19:38.088
It's such a delight
to have you on the stage.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:38.112 --> 00:19:39.493
DR: Thank you. VC: Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:19:39.517 --> 00:19:44.654
(Applause)