As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 22 May 2014

Virtual reality is making farmed chickens believe they're roaming free


SCIENCEALERT STAFF 
TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2014

A new project is testing whether virtual reality headsets could help chickens believe they're living humanely while we mass produce them.
Image: Second Livestock

By strapping Oculus Rift headsets onto farmed chickens, Iowa State University assistant professor in design Austin Stewart hopes he can make them believe they're living a human existence.

He's named the project "Second Livestock", reminiscent of the game Second Life.

But to us, it sounds more like The Matrix, for chickens. 

Still, although it's a disturbing move, Stewart has an ambitious goal - he wants to get people talking about how we can improve chickens' lives while meeting the public's increasing demand for poultry.

We know it sounds like a joke, in fact, it's something Stewart gets a lot, journalist Liz Dwyer explains on TakePart.


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