Dairy Cows Fitted with VR Headsets? Time to Stop And Think
VR was designed to access “better” worlds, but will it be a one-way road?
The idea of attaching Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to farm animals made the news back in 2019. Back then, the Russian government announced that they were working on a project to increase milk production by fitting VR headsets to dairy cows.
The headsets displayed images of warm green grasslands that made the cows forget the harsh conditions they were actually living in. Now, a new trial initiated by a Turkish farmer has gone viral.
It is just another sign that the idea is not going away by itself, especially because the trial has proved that the technology can produce the intended result.
Now that the metaverse has given a huge push to virtual reality, it is time to stop and think about what to expect from it in the coming years.
Innovation or torture?
The Turkish experiment has shown an increase in milk production from 22 to 27 liters per week. The farmer also claims that those cows wearing the headsets feel less stressed than the rest of their peers.
How he knows that remains a mystery to me.
Yet, the images of cows with VR headsets attached to their heads remind me of Guantanamo. It just resembles too much the way prisoners were tortured using sensory deprivation techniques. And I am not alone here. Organizations fighting for animal rights have rushed to show their disapproval.
The ethical challenge is clear. Now, someone will need to decide if these applications of VR become acceptable. A difficult subject considering that it could play a key part in reducing our carbon footprint.
Climate change versus animal rights, such an interesting debate.
Where is the limit?
As usual, this type of news makes me think about the unimaginable future. Sooner or later we will get there, so why not start talking about it now?
Prisons
Prisons are overcrowded. This is a problem that many countries have experienced in the past years. That could be an opportunity too.
Will we soon see the first Virtual Reality Prisoners? They would serve their sentences from home while wearing VR googles for a few hours a day. Depending on the gravity of their crimes, these digital prisoners could be sent to either a modern and clean Norwegian prison or to one in Venezuela.
Shocking, right? Let’s move on to more positive applications.
We could use VR as a reward for prisoners who have shown good behavior. They would be able to enjoy a breath of digital freedom that would help them forget about their real situation for a while.
Also, if they are serving their sentences in a prison that is far away from their families, they could meet them in a nice place located somewhere in the metaverse.
Hospitals and retirement homes
These are two places where no one wants to find themselves. Can VR make being there more bearable? I think so.
Hospital patients could receive virtual visits of their loved ones even outside visiting hours. Seniors living in retirement homes could visit the places they never got to visit while they were young: a romantic dinner in Paris, a visit to the Great Chinese Wall, or a refreshing dip in the Great Barrier Reef.
All of it achievable in an hour.
Babies
If we have fitted VR goggles to animals who can’t defend themselves, will we do it with our babies too? Maybe a scientific study will show that babies who spend half of their days in the virtual world are more likely to become creative once they grow up. Would we want that?
Maybe I am just getting old, but I wouldn’t even want to explore that possibility. Otherwise, we will be transforming ourselves into a new species that only resembles the traditional “analog” human we know about.
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