Ideas worth spreading

Can the metaverse bring us closer to wildlife?

1,042,540 views | Gautam Shah • TED2022

Technologist and TED Fellow Gautam Shah invites us to imagine how the metaverse could redefine the relationships between humans and other species. By giving individual wild animals a personal identity (such as Fio, a young orangutan in Borneo, or Mweituria, an elephant living in Kenya) and sharing data on their migration, milestones and habitats, Shah thinks we could empathize with wildlife in a whole new way. Learn more about how emerging technology could bring us closer to the natural world -- and what the connections we build there could mean for the future of the planet.

Technologist and TED Fellow Gautam Shah invites us to imagine how the metaverse could redefine the relationships between humans and other species. By giving individual wild animals a personal identity (such as Fio, a young orangutan in Borneo, or Mweituria, an elephant living in Kenya) and sharing data on their migration, milestones and habitats, Shah thinks we could empathize with wildlife in a whole new way. Learn more about how emerging technology could bring us closer to the natural world -- and what the connections we build there could mean for the future of the planet.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Learn more about the projects of Internet of Elephants and play some of their games.

About the speaker

Gautam Shah

Conservationist, Technologist

See speaker profile

TED Fellow Gautam Shah is a conservationist and technologist.

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