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Startup Plans To Clean Up Cigarette Butts Using Crows (popularmechanics.com)

AmiMoJo writes: A startup in the Netherlands is developing the "Crowbar," a bird feeder that takes discarded cigarette butts as payment for dispensing food. A camera recognises cigarette filters and rejects any other objects placed in the Crowbar. The idea isn't entirely original, a gentleman in the US has already built a similar device and trained crows to deposit coins. The hope is that crows will be able to keep cities clean, sort through refuse and perform other tasks for our mutual benefit.
Popular Mechanics notes that crows "are some of the smartest animals in the world," suggesting this means "we could harness their abilities for the greater good of our planet."

6 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Gateway drug by Templer421 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To crows smoking marijuana.

    Next thing you know they will be robbing liquor stores and pirating music!

  2. human smokers will be trained by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "it's okay for me to throw my butts into the street, because a crow will pick it up and get fed. I'm thinking of the crows"

    how about robots that pick up smoldering butts and use them to burn the faces of the smokers that throw them. I think this kind of negative reinforcement is a better solution and doesn't involve enslaving animals.

  3. Re:They are smart... by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sounds pretty smart to me. Being in the wild means no food other than what you catch yourself, cold and so on. Faking an injury means having food delivered right under your beak, and a warm house. I guess you didn't do anything stressful like keeping the bird confined in a tiny cage, so the new environment wasn't bad.

    The crow wasn't a professional at mind-controlling humans like the Master Species so no meows at frequencies that simulate a human baby, no mind-altering parasites, and it doesn't look cute either, thus you managed to get rid of that crow... but the principle is the same.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  4. Crows more trainable than smokers? by MiniMike · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's too bad some humans can't be trained not to litter in the first place.

  5. Smokers are the worst by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know what it is, but even nice respectable people who smoke don't seem to have any issue pitching their butts out the window when finished, often not even making sure they are out. Not just a few wildfires have been started by this behavior.

    Bizarre.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  6. Re:Minute of hate by thrich81 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'll end up saying something similar to the Reverend, maybe less angry. We're (at least not me) aren't intolerant of smokers, especially now that little of it is done inside. I recognize it's a tough addiction to kick (I can't even kick my mild desire for sugary sodas). What I don't care for is cigarette butts all over the place. I don't throw my soda cans on the ground, they go into a recycle bin. If smokers would do something similar and get the other smokers to do the same, I'd have no problems with it.