New Orbit Magazine Issue 08; Feb 2020, The Future of Animals

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A similar idea was explored a few years ago,when VR developer Second Livestock (a punon the popular online role playing game“Second Life”, where players interact witheach other through created avatars in avirtual world) posed the concept of a freerange virtual reality simulator for chickens.The posed simulator would have grass andstreams and countless bugs for the chickensto peck at, as well as contain all of the otherchicken players in the coop, exploring sameopen, free range map. While the chickenswould think they were out, roaming thecountryside without a worry, they would infact be restrained in very small andincreasingly unnatural cages til they were ofoptimum slaughter size.- Second Livestock’s founder, Austin StewartGiven this context, theidea of VR for farmanimals seems to take alittle more of a sinisterturn. It’s all well and good (arguably) fortechnologies to be used for the betterment ofa cow who is stuck inside for the winter fortheir own safety, but the line definitely getsblurred when we consider that the imperativefor creating a VR countryside for chickens toroam in is to further force them intocramped, unnatural, and inhumaneconditions – not to help them. If virtualreality is used to replace physical enrichment– like the brushes and music that the Moscowfood and agriculture press release mentioned,or the scratch pads and perches that we offerto barn and colony raised chickens now, arewe making a step backwards in how theseanimals are treated, rather than forwards? Isa farm animal being able to walk on a trackpad as desirable as an animal being able towalk free on solid land? What satisfactionwould a farm animal get from pecking at nonexistentfood? Is the appearance of a freeroamingworld the same, to a chicken, as thereal deal?To that final question, at least, the answer isno. Visual stimulation is incrediblyimportant to humans, it is by far ourdominant sense, and the most important forcreating a virtual environment of us. This isnot true of all, or even most animals. Whilean image could potentially create a positiveeffect on the psyche of a chicken, a cow, ahorse, or any other potential player, this VRis missing scents, breeze, temperaturechanges, levels of communication, taste andtouch, as well as myriad other environmentalcues. As the researchers looking into thecows’ ideal farmland discovered, the kind of
pictures that a VR developer might enjoywould rarely work if inserted into a worldmeant for another species. We’re yet to evendetermine. For example, to what extentchickens can distinguish colour, and theassociated psychological effects of such.While the moving pictures and the sensationof control might create some kinds ofreactions in certain animals – for example,mice have been reported to show the sameaversion to height in a simulated virtualexperiment as they would to real heights, justlike humans do, and zebrafish haveinteracted with animated virtual characters inthe same way they’d interact with strange fishfrom an incoming school – it’s clear that agood visual with a backing track is notenough to replace the outdoors for the spanof an animal’s entire life story.Chandler, S. (2019, November 19). VirtualReality Used to Relax Cows Into Producing MoreMilk. Retrieved from Forbes:https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2019/11/29/virtual-reality-used-to-relax-cowsinto-producing-more-milk/#1ba87f97356bReedy, C. (2017, May 16). A VR DeveloperCreated an Expansive Virtual World for Chickens.Retrieved from Futurism:https://futurism.com/a-vr-developer-createdan-expansive-virtual-world-for-chickensThe Conversation. (2019, November 29).Virtual reality won’t make cows happier, but it mighthelp us see them differently. Retrieved from TheConversation:http://theconversation.com/virtual-realitywont-make-cows-happier-but-it-might-help-ussee-them-differently-127916
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New Orbit Magazine Issue 08; Feb 2020, The Future of Animals

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