Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/17/crows-being-trained-to-pick-up.html
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Oh hey, didn’t someone do a TED talk with a machine like this before?
Rest assured that the crows will figure out a way to game the system in short order.
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Now if someone could figure out how to train porpoises to get rid of all that plastic in the ocean . . . . .
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I’m hoping they unionise and demand a pay deal.
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Proof of concept. Now to reward them for bringing back pieces of GOP Senators.
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crows overheard saying: “wait, what? we’re geting paid to build nests?”
The birds will be encouraged to spruce up the park through the use of a small box that delivers a nugget of bird food each time the rook deposits a cigarette end or small piece of rubbish.
Gee, I wonder if that would work on humans?
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Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
So, if I get what he’s saying, training another creature to pick up our debris teaches us how to take care of nature?
Once they’ve cleaned up, I hope they’ll be trained to deal with anyone who tries to undo all that work…Hitchcock-style. 
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When the crows run out of cigarette butts, they’ll start collecting pebbles and twigs. If the box can’t tell the difference, it’ll be just pebbles and twigs in pretty short order.
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Did all their camera phones break down? Is there no video of these crowes in action.
Because I could say we’re going to have ocelots as street sweepers but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
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Also car keys and earings
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I recollect that someone did that in a lab context, and the bird starting ripping up the trash so it could get multiple rewards for what had been one item of garbage. Outside the lab, it’s been considered a non-starter:
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WHERE IS YOUR KICKSTARTER
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Read headline as Cows being trained to pick up trash.
I’m not disappointed now, just a little sad.
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Why not goats? Don’t they eat trash? That’s what I was led to believe many years ago anyway:
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I wonder if the magic French boxes would dispense food nuggets if the crows figure out how to shit into the trash slot. That way nature itself can teach us the importance or recycling!
What about training the humans to put their own trash in a bin ?
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