Name: 當你的狗使用互聯網時會發生什麼 | Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas | TED (What Happens When Your Dog Uses the Internet | Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas | TED)
Uploaded: 2025-10-30T14:27:11.000Z
Duration: 14 min 26 s

Many of you out here will have a dog at home that's potentially cut off and isolated from anyone.

在座的各位，家裡可能都有狗狗，牠們可能被隔離開來，跟外界斷了聯繫。

Right now we as people have managed to bridge this divide just with a quick swipe of our phone, able to contact a loved one with video call or a telephone call.

現在的我們，只要滑滑手機，就能跨越這層隔閡，用視訊或電話聯繫心愛的人。

My research asks what if we do the same for animals?

我的研究想問的是，如果我們也這樣對待動物呢？

What if we allow animals to use the Internet and connect online?

如果我們讓動物也能上網，跟外界連結呢？

Now you may be laughing and think this is a really strange idea, but

或許你現在覺得這想法很奇怪，在偷笑，但

many of us already use technology with our pets.

其實我們很多人已經在用科技跟寵物互動了。

Many people here will have collars which have trackers on able to detect where their dog or cat is at any point.

這裡很多人家裡的項圈都有追蹤器，隨時能知道狗狗或貓咪在哪裡。

And we as researchers often use screen technologies and various different sorts of technologies to monitor and measure animals cognition and behavior.

而我們研究人員，也常常利用螢幕和其他各種科技來監測和測量動物的認知和行為。

When we start to think about it, we actually control a lot of our animals lives.

仔細想想，其實我們掌握了動物生活的大部分。

We control what they eat, we control where they go, we control what activities they do, and

我們決定牠們吃什麼，決定牠們去哪裡，決定牠們做什麼活動，還有

we even control their friends and who they see.

我們甚至控制牠們的朋友和牠們會見到誰。

What if we could instead use technology to flip this script?

如果我們能反過來利用科技來扭轉這個局面呢？

What if we could use technologies to enable animals to have choice over their lives and control, including their social life.

如果我們能利用科技，讓動物也能選擇牠們的生活和控制權，包括牠們的社交生活呢？

So I began this journey when I was 21 and I got my dog Zach, who you can see here.

我在 21 歲時展開了這段旅程，當時我養了我的狗狗 Zach，牠就在這裡。

At the time I was studying a master's in computer science.

那時候我正在攻讀電腦科學碩士。

I got really into building Arduino and Raspberry PI and low fidelity computer technology.

我非常熱衷於打造 Arduino 和 Raspberry PI，以及低傳真的電腦科技。

And I was sitting one day on the sofa with my dog and I started to think, what if he could also control the TV with me when we were watching it together?

有一天我跟我的狗狗一起坐在沙發上，我開始想，如果我們一起看電視時，牠也能跟我一起控制電視呢？

What if as well as me changing the channel, my dog could do the same?

如果除了我能換頻道，我的狗狗也能做同樣的事呢？

And importantly, would this even be what a dog would want?

而且重要的是，這真的是狗狗想要的嗎？

And so I began to build my dog and many different other dogs computer devices.

於是，我開始為我的狗狗和其他許多不同的狗狗打造電腦裝置。

I began building these screen devices that detect when a dog gets close and then place them different sorts of videos.

我開始打造這些螢幕裝置，能偵測到狗狗靠近時，就播放各種不同的影片給牠們看。

After using this device with various different dogs, what I found is that all dogs introduced to this device would use this without any form of training while they use it.

在使用這個裝置給各種不同的狗狗測試後，我發現所有接觸過這個裝置的狗狗，在使用時都不需要任何形式的訓練。

We really don't know why they would use this device.

我們真的不知道牠們為什麼會使用這個裝置。

We don't know if they understand the device.

我們也不知道牠們是否理解這個裝置。

But to keep using it implies some level of enrichment, some level of understanding.

但牠們持續使用，就代表某種程度上的樂趣，某種程度上的理解。

I then moved to Finland in Helsinki and I was visiting the zoo and I started to realize that many other zoo animals also have little control over their lives.

我搬到了芬蘭赫爾辛基，參觀了動物園，我開始意識到，許多其他動物園裡的動物，對牠們的生活也幾乎沒有控制權。

And so I expanded my work and I started working with white faced saki monkeys which you can see here.

於是我擴展了我的工作，開始和白臉僧帽猴合作，就是你們在這裡看到的。

These are a tiny species of monkeys, typically live about mid range in the rainforest and rather elusive.

牠們是體型很小的猴子，通常生活在雨林中層，而且相當難以捉摸。

I built them this tunnel device that you can see here that again, similar to the dog device, whenever they enter, would play them different audio and different sorts of videos.

我為牠們打造了這個你們在這裡看到的隧道裝置，和狗狗的裝置一樣，牠們一進來就會播放不同的音訊和影片給牠們聽。

I gave them these two devices over several different months and what I found was fascinating.

我花了好幾個月的時間，把這兩個裝置給牠們，結果發現非常有趣。

We found that these monkeys significantly like watching underwater barracudas and jellyfish and mealworms, which makes more sense because they eat mealworms and what they like listening to is really heavy beeping traffic noise, which makes completely no sense.

我們發現這些猴子非常喜歡看水下的梭子魚、水母和麵包蟲，這還說得過去，因為牠們會吃麵包蟲；而牠們喜歡聽的則是非常嘈雜的交通噪音，這就完全說不通了。

And like I mentioned before, it's not only about what they use it for, but

而且就像我之前提到的，這不只關乎牠們如何使用，

So we started to look at also the changes in their behaviors.

所以我們也開始觀察牠們行為上的改變。

Does using this device change something about them?

使用這個裝置對牠們有什麼改變嗎？

And what we found was that they significantly reduced their scratching behavior, which can be seen as a stressful behavior.

我們發現牠們抓癢的行為顯著減少，這可以被視為一種壓力行為。

And so we start to get onto something more powerful here that giving animals technology not only gives them a choice and ability to control their lives, but

所以我們在這裡發現了一些更強大的東西：給予動物科技，不僅讓牠們有選擇和控制自己生活的機會，

it also gives them something which can impact their well being and improves their health.

還能帶給牠們能影響牠們福祉、改善牠們健康的東西。

Now, as I mentioned before, we don't really know why animals use technology.

現在，就像我之前說的，我們其實不知道動物為什麼會使用科技。

Is it because of the stimuli or videos or audio that it gives?

是因為牠們接收到的刺激、影片或音訊嗎？

We can't ask them a questionnaire the same ways we can do when we do research with humans.

我們沒辦法像研究人類一樣，用問卷的方式來問牠們。

This marmoset monkey here, for instance, researchers gave a light switch where they were able to turn on and off a light inside their own enclosure.

舉例來說，這隻狨猴，研究人員給了牠們一個電燈開關，讓牠們可以控制自己籠子裡的燈光開關。

From having this light switch, what researchers find is they would continually turn on and off this light.

研究人員發現，有了這個電燈開關後，牠們會不斷地開開關關燈。

And they suspect they do this not because they want the light, but

而他們猜測，牠們這麼做不是因為想要燈光，

because it gives them control over their environment, it gives them predictability.

而是因為這讓牠們能掌控自己的環境，讓牠們的生活變得可預測。

And so you can see it's really confusing and sometimes unknown and complex on why animals would use technology in the first place.

所以你可以看到，動物一開始為什麼會使用科技，這件事其實很令人困惑，有時未知又複雜。

So I kept developing different devices for animals from heating devices, audio devices and different video devices.

所以我就持續為動物開發不同的裝置，從加熱裝置、音訊裝置到各種不同的視訊裝置。

But I started to realize that we still control the most fundamental part of our animals lives, which is the social lives.

但我開始意識到，我們仍然掌控著動物生活中最基本的部分，那就是牠們的社交生活。

Global lockdown taught us that we as humans, when we are isolated, it is bad for our mental health.

全球封鎖讓我們明白，我們人類在孤立時，對心理健康是很不利的。

And the same could be said for many different sorts of animals.

這句話對許多不同種類的動物也同樣適用。

Many animals live naturally in the wild in really big groups.

許多動物在野外自然地以非常大的群體生活。

Parrots fly in flocks of hundreds, dogs run in packs.

鸚鵡會成百上千地成群飛行，狗狗則成群奔跑。

Primates often live in really complex groups, such as chimpanzees, which come together and then go apart in a process called fission fusion.

靈長類動物經常生活在非常複雜的群體中，例如黑猩猩，牠們會聚集在一起，然後又分開，這個過程稱為「分裂融合」。

And when we keep animals in captivity, for practical reasons, we don't always keep them in the same groups.

而當我們圈養動物時，基於實際考量，我們不一定會讓牠們維持相同的群體。

There's limited cost, there's limited space and also sometimes behavioral management.

有成本限制、空間限制，有時還有行為管理的問題。

最近我參觀了一個水族館，然後

the head of research there was showing me the fish that they keep to one side because they're naughty and fight with other fish.

那裡的首席研究員給我看了一些他們另外飼養的魚，因為牠們很頑皮，會跟別的魚打架。

And so even these animals you can see sometimes are separated.

所以你看，即使是這些動物，有時候也會被分開。

So I started to wonder, what if we could use technology to connect these animals together?

於是我開始想，如果我們能利用科技把這些動物連結在一起呢？

What if we could use video calls to do this?

如果我們能用視訊電話來做到這件事呢？

我們人類已經在使用視訊電話了，

this has benefited us a lot of Would animals want this and would they use this?

這對我們幫助很大。動物們也會想要這樣做嗎？牠們會使用嗎？

So I started with what I knew, which was my dog.

於是我從我最熟悉的開始，就是我的狗狗。

I built him this ball device you can see here, which recognizes when he carries it and when he moves it around and his leaning behaviors.

我幫牠做了這個球狀裝置，你們在這裡可以看到，它能辨識牠什麼時候叼著它，什麼時候在移動它，以及牠的倚靠行為。

And it would video call me from a TV that I set up in our lounge.

然後它會從我放在客廳的電視上打視訊電話給我。

I gave him this device whenever he was home alone.

我只要牠獨自在家時，就會給牠這個裝置。

然後我就等著看牠會不會打電話給我。

What I found is that he would ring me a lot.

He started video calling me and developing these routines.

牠開始跟我視訊，發展出一些習慣。

Typically, he would ring me often in the morning and then later on in the evening.

通常牠早上會打給我，然後晚上也會。

But sometimes these calls became a bit too much.

但有時候這些電話有點太多了。

Sometimes he would ring me back to back to back, and

有時候牠會一直打、一直打、一直打，

I would talk to him about our daily life.

我就會跟牠聊我們每天的生活。

But eventually I'd just run out of things to talk about.

And so what I did was I flipped the camera in my phone around and instead I started showing him my world.

所以我做的就是把手機鏡頭轉過來，然後開始給牠看我的世界。

I showed him the people I was with, I showed him the food I was eating.

我給牠看我跟誰在一起，我給牠看我吃的東西。

Buskers in the street, wherever I was, is what I showed him.

我在哪裡看到的街頭藝人，我都會給牠看。

And in many ways, the technology then became a tool for him to have a portal beyond his home.

在很多方面，這項科技就成了牠的工具，讓牠能有個家的門戶。

But there was still a problem here that me as a person wasn't always available, which is why I was often out of the house.

但這裡還有個問題，就是我這個人並不是隨時都在，這也是為什麼我常常不在家。

I was in meetings, I couldn't keep running this stuff of picking up these phone calls.

我在開會，沒辦法一直接電話。

So I started to wonder, what if animals could ring each other instead?

所以我開始想，如果動物們可以互相打電話給對方呢？

Parrots are really highly social creatures, Often live in big groups, really complex, and

鸚鵡是非常群居的動物，常常住在一個大群體裡，非常複雜，而且

have really deep and meaningful relationships with each other.

牠們之間有非常深刻且有意義的關係。

And yet, when we keep them as pets, we often keep them alone.

然而，當我們把牠們當成寵物時，卻常常把牠們單獨飼養。

So I started to wonder, would a parrot video call another parrot if given a choice?

所以我就開始想，如果鸚鵡有選擇的話，牠們會不會跟另一隻鸚鵡視訊通話？

me and my collaborators, we started to build a screen based system on a tablet which had profile photos of different parrots.

我和我的合作夥伴，我們開始在平板電腦上建置一個基於螢幕的系統，上面有不同鸚鵡的個人檔案照片。

And then taught parrots how to trigger the video calls by using their tongues on the screens.

然後教鸚鵡們如何透過用舌頭觸碰螢幕來觸發視訊通話。

Put together, the system looks like this.

這個系統組合起來的樣子就像這樣。

So they ring a bell to get over the caregiver.

所以牠們會搖鈴來請照顧者過來。

Eleanor, who would you like to call this time?