A VR Developer Created a Virtual World for Chickens
Battery hens live pretty grim lives – but what if their lot could be improved with the use of virtual reality? Second Livestock is a project that envisions caged hens being fitted with VR goggles, microphones and movement sensors to give them the impression that they’re out in the barnyard doing … whatever it is chickens prefer to do all day. If the chickens themselves believe they’re free and happy, does that mean they should get the free range stamp, even though they’re cooped up?
In an interview with Vox, Second Livestock’s founder and associate professor at the Iowa State University’s College of Design Austin Stewart explained that this virtual free range is really a social experiment between chickens living in a VR world. “I feel like this is more of a design project, to get people to have a conversation about animal husbandry,” he said. “We live in boxes, just like the chickens we eat.”
In reality, the chickens in Second Livestock live close to each other. In their virtual world, however, they live a life in the open. The world features real-life scenarios too, complete with its own creepy crawlers and water sources for the chicken to feed on and drink from. “[A]nd there are no predators, obviously,” he explained in the interview. “So they’re free to just worry about chicken business.”
On one hand Second Livestock is a comment on the cruelty of battery farming – on the other it makes us think about exactly how much of our own lives we spend staring into screens that convince us we’re getting things done and having an effect on our surroundings. It’s a bit depressing, really.
There’s something sweet about the idea of plugging these poor cluckers into their goggles and creating a fun life for them – after all, if a chicken wears these things from an early age, how will they know the difference between real life and what they’re seeing?
Second Livestock is another viable application of VR outside of just gaming. Certainly, it may seem unusual, but maybe not so much as testing electric shocks via VR or partying with friends in a virtual world. At the very least, it could help demonstrate whether animals experience VR the same way human beings do.
“Will animals actually accept a virtual world as readily as we do, or is there some level of intelligence or imagination that needs to happen where we can suspend disbelief more readily than a chicken can?” Stewart asked in the Vox interview. “I don’t know.”
A VR Developer Created a Virtual World for Chickens
Battery hens live pretty grim lives – but what if their lot could be improved with the use of virtual reality? Second Livestock is a project that envisions caged hens being fitted with VR goggles, microphones and movement sensors to give them the impression that they’re out in the barnyard doing … whatever it is chickens prefer to do all day. If the chickens themselves believe they’re free and happy, does that mean they should get the free range stamp, even though they’re cooped up?
In an interview with Vox, Second Livestock’s founder and associate professor at the Iowa State University’s College of Design Austin Stewart explained that this virtual free range is really a social experiment between chickens living in a VR world. “I feel like this is more of a design project, to get people to have a conversation about animal husbandry,” he said. “We live in boxes, just like the chickens we eat.”
In reality, the chickens in Second Livestock live close to each other. In their virtual world, however, they live a life in the open. The world features real-life scenarios too, complete with its own creepy crawlers and water sources for the chicken to feed on and drink from. “[A]nd there are no predators, obviously,” he explained in the interview. “So they’re free to just worry about chicken business.”
On one hand Second Livestock is a comment on the cruelty of battery farming – on the other it makes us think about exactly how much of our own lives we spend staring into screens that convince us we’re getting things done and having an effect on our surroundings. It’s a bit depressing, really.
There’s something sweet about the idea of plugging these poor cluckers into their goggles and creating a fun life for them – after all, if a chicken wears these things from an early age, how will they know the difference between real life and what they’re seeing?
Second Livestock is another viable application of VR outside of just gaming. Certainly, it may seem unusual, but maybe not so much as testing electric shocks via VR or partying with friends in a virtual world. At the very least, it could help demonstrate whether animals experience VR the same way human beings do.
“Will animals actually accept a virtual world as readily as we do, or is there some level of intelligence or imagination that needs to happen where we can suspend disbelief more readily than a chicken can?” Stewart asked in the Vox interview. “I don’t know.”
