People & Blogs
Birds of a feather… FaceTime together! #TEDTalks
Imagine this: you walk into a room, and your dog is on a video call with their fellow canine friends. Computer scientist Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas thinks the notion of a social internet for animals is not far off. She explores what happens when animals control their own technology — from parrots making friends online to monkeys…
@scarlett19b
November 6, 2025 at 12:07 pm
*_As a person who has always had Parrots.. Parrots are highly intelligent! And they are great to have & be around.. since just Like Cats and Dogs they will always let You know that they Care! When leaving the room they’ll immediately notice and make You aware that You are missed!_*
@darshan303
November 6, 2025 at 12:11 pm
It would be better off not keeping parrots as pets, for the kind bird.
@scarlett19b
November 6, 2025 at 12:23 pm
*_Just so You know; You don’t have to keep Parrots in cages and such!_*
@ur_boi_lando901
November 6, 2025 at 12:22 pm
we do not need animals having smart phones. don’t let our tech creep into nature like that, it would destroy it.
@haventader
November 6, 2025 at 12:39 pm
Are you worried wild parrots are gonna head to ur local apple store?
@sudokode
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 pm
Think about what you just said. Birds are not kept in cages by humans in nature. Humans have already intervened in their lives and thus kept them from a vital part of their nature
@julianshepherd2038
November 6, 2025 at 1:03 pm
Also mirrors. Don’t give one to a budgie because the Devil will use it to steal your soul.
@taylorarch2661
November 6, 2025 at 1:20 pm
pretty sure the issue here is keeping animals alone in captivity even if its an otherwise healthy environment in your home. but people are way more likely to buy a tablet to make their bird a bit happier than to get more animals or stop keeping them as pets altogether
@avinesh7668
November 6, 2025 at 12:42 pm
What about raising 2 parrots together, problem solved.😅
@Pigmoneythe3rd
November 6, 2025 at 2:15 pm
Unless they dont like each other
@audreyxatomic
November 6, 2025 at 2:31 pm
Yeah I was going to say that a human also wants companionship, but that doesn’t mean you want to spend your life with some random person.
@joebillings1313
November 6, 2025 at 2:40 pm
Raised two parrots in the same house, and spent more time trying to stop them from murdering each other, which caused a massive divide. One bird became mine, the other, my girl’s. Maxwell passed at 35, but Ringo still sees me as Maxwell’s team and low-key hates me for it.
Given she’s about nine years old, there’s another twenty years of sneaky neck bites, and the possibility she’ll get over Max, then, probably not.
@방탄리사
November 6, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Yes but also they should still do the calls.
@joebillings1313
November 6, 2025 at 5:09 pm
@방탄리사 100%
@nk-dw2hm
November 6, 2025 at 1:07 pm
How can we invest in this?
@TheMatt-90
November 6, 2025 at 1:48 pm
This is the humanity that I’m fighting for ❤
@harryliu7313
November 6, 2025 at 2:24 pm
… animanlity …
@TheMatt-90
November 6, 2025 at 2:44 pm
@harryliu7313 humans thinking in compassionate ways about animals is humanity. Not …animanlity….😂
@soraya9667
November 6, 2025 at 2:51 pm
Love that ❤
@Albi91vl
November 6, 2025 at 3:26 pm
Humanity is not keeping them in captivity at all. Why are people so stupid these days
@TheMatt-90
November 6, 2025 at 3:54 pm
@Albi91vlwould you throw puppies into the woods because that’s where they belong? We can’t fix overnight how we have domesticated animals. You have any plans on how to rehabilitate any of these birds back into being wild? The most humane thing would be euthanizing them all then never trying to have any animal fed or taught by humans. Would you rather just kill them all and start over?
@Ammonia300
November 6, 2025 at 1:58 pm
ChatGPT should be able to call Claude
@inigoMontoyaa
November 6, 2025 at 2:13 pm
Wtf happened to TED talks …
@crellystickysocks
November 6, 2025 at 2:20 pm
just give them a friend, if you can’t afford 2 birds then you shouldn’t be buying birds in the first place.
@방탄리사
November 6, 2025 at 3:05 pm
True but they should still make do phone calls for fun.
@Multiply6x9
November 8, 2025 at 6:06 am
What if the friend you get for them, they actually hate?
Then you’ve trapped them with in there with no way out.
@fishingdude67
November 6, 2025 at 2:30 pm
I really do think some animals, like the parrots, are the only ones qualified to be in control of things!
Maybe it’s time they ran for leadership roles!
They couldn’t do a worse job than the current slop we have! 😊
@amadeuscrossing7061
November 6, 2025 at 2:48 pm
Our priorities are so skewed. We are literally giving social media to literal birds. I cannot wait for the end of civilization 🙂
@tanisgeorgetti7317
November 6, 2025 at 3:14 pm
That’s so freaking cool!!!!❤
@toutvabien3406
November 6, 2025 at 3:23 pm
I used to have a parrot. He always teach me how should I call him. If I use a nick name, he would correct it. So lovely b
@durdudunsanders680
November 6, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Finally social media for parrots
@OvrBurdnD
November 6, 2025 at 6:27 pm
😂
@rusmilayuki
November 7, 2025 at 3:42 am
😂😂
@Albi91vl
November 6, 2025 at 3:25 pm
What about just releasing them in nature where they belong ? Just saying
@FITZIEBLUE
November 6, 2025 at 3:33 pm
👍👌💫
@MiLiEl1024
November 6, 2025 at 3:47 pm
She built facetime???!!
Wooooooh
😂😂😂
@MystGify
November 6, 2025 at 3:48 pm
I would love for my 2 birds to have more friends. I’m all for this 🙂
@CherylWatson-v7c
November 6, 2025 at 3:49 pm
Need something like this for the elderly who live alone.
@helenmason9317
November 6, 2025 at 6:29 pm
Umm, like zoom or WhatsApp video calls?
@user-lx9hg5wp3x
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 pm
Isn’t it bad enough that our phone lines are already jammed with humans in their cell phones and now we’re giving cell phones basically to parrots so they can call their friends!!!! The internet system with parrots calling their friends instead of humans using the cell phones and having enough difficulties trying to get through and have good cell service. It shows the intelligence of the bird I agree if you can’t give your parrot enough attention to keep it happy guess what don’t have a parrot don’t buy a parrot if you have one parrot buy a second one so it’ll have company if you can’t fulfill its need for company but don’t give it a flipping cell phone basically to tie up more cell phone lines.
It shows the parrots intelligence which we all know parrots are very intelligent creatures but at the same time they don’t need to be talking on the cell phone when humans are having enough trouble getting through on the lines already!!!!!
@judeboachie
November 6, 2025 at 4:09 pm
Tinder for parrots. I can see it
@OvrBurdnD
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 pm
1980’s: “In the year 2025, there will be flying cars, and space tourism…”
2025: yeah so we taught lonely parrots how to video call themselves… yes exactly like a dating site… a dating app for pet birds… mhmm… what else would we be doing? Thanks for coming to my TedTalk…
@juliet8678
November 6, 2025 at 6:33 pm
LOL this is genius! 💖😄
@karlareyes4688
November 6, 2025 at 6:45 pm
I think instead of creating technology to keep birds in captivity or as pets, we should start spreading the word that some animals belong in the wild. I think that would be wayyyyy better 😊
@mariateresamagcase1688
November 6, 2025 at 7:19 pm
And im reminded of a post about a zoo that separated 5 parrots (or a similar breed) because rhey were teaching each other how to curse at people and then laughing together 😂😂😂
@7of9
November 7, 2025 at 12:28 am
Apparently Elon is concerned that AI Teslas will get bored sitting in their garages. Perhaps we should get them a parrot to keep them company.
@EveNoir-m3m
November 7, 2025 at 7:38 pm
How interesting!
@abhishripatil791
November 7, 2025 at 11:51 pm
Almost like they aren’t meant to be away from their ecosystem for such times in the home of another animal
@davesnothere512
November 7, 2025 at 11:51 pm
How can i facetime a bird?
@PadhleMKLfoundation
November 8, 2025 at 9:40 am
Why you want to be accompanied in your addictions?