Second Livestock: VR for Factory Chickens - Creator Austin Stewart on the Draw of Living a Virtually "Free Range" Life

Finally, the virtual reality application that will make VR go mass market: Second Livestock, which as the name suggests, is a VR platform for factory chickens who may not be free range, but at can least have a virtual free range experience. It's the brainchild of Iowa State Assistant Professor Austin Stewart, and it's less an actual technology platform than a conceptual art piece that parodies VR, our expectations for it -- not to mention our treatment of factory farm animals:

"Second Livestock is as concerned with questions about what constitutes humane treatment of animals as it is with what constitutes humane treatment of humans," as Stewart tells me by e-mail. "We spend our lives living and working in little boxes just like the chickens we consume... Second Life is one potential path to giving humans a 'free range' lifestyle that would otherwise be difficult for many to experience. I am interested to hear feedback from SLers because they are part of the demographic who are the early adopters of this virtual 'free range' lifestyle."

He has given live demonstrations of Second Livestock, and the experience has upset audience members for various reasons:

"Many people who have attended the Second Livestock presentations are upset by the idea of having chickens live a Virtual Free Range life," he says. "They are concerned that they may not experience an authentic, wholesome, or fulfilling life. Being upset by chickens living a virtual life, I am sure the idea of Second Life is also upsetting to them."

I asked him how NWN readers should look at his project, and he had this to say: "The questions I have for your readers are, is SL an authentic, wholesome, and fulfilling experience? Why did they join and why do they stay? Do they see SL as just a part of their lives, or given a few more advances in VR would they prefer it be the whole of their lives? Where do they stand on whether or not creating virtual environments for animals is ethical?" (Emphasize mine, because it's a goddamn good set of questions; they're actually the latest version of Robert Nozick's Experience Machine thought experiment.)

In any case, Stewart is just getting going with VR for animals:

"The last slides in my presentation introduce two new products Second Dog Park (VR world for dogs) and Second Habitat (VR world for zoo animals," he tells me, smiling. "So chickens are just the start."

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Comments

[Iggy]

Brilliant way to bring to light a real horror-show. What's not talked about in our treatment of factory animals is whether these birds are given growth hormones and antibiotics that may enter humans' bodies and silently accumulate.

See "The Meatrix" if you want to know how most food animals get raised: http://www.themeatrix.com/

Just found out that US birds do not get salmonella injections to save money; that's why European eggs can go without refrigeration.

For my part, I'm eating less and less meat. I buy chickens and eggs from my neighbors and avoid all factory-raised meat unless I'm eating out, and gradually I mean to get meat of my diet almost completely, though I do love deli cuts, steaks, and pork BBQ.

If buying local means eating less meat, but so be it. There's too much in the modern diet, anyhow.

I am building our own coop, now that we are out in the sticks. No VR in the works for the coop, however.

[GoSpeed Racer]

This is a joke, right? I'm was looking for the nod-nod, wink-wink from you Hamlet and didn't catch it. The idea is far fetched, expensive, and fatuous. Secondly the blatant ripoff of the Second Life logo and font can't be sanctioned either.

[Hamlet Au]

"I'm was looking for the nod-nod, wink-wink from you Hamlet and didn't catch it."

You mean besides me writing "it's less an actual technology platform than a conceptual art piece that parodies VR" in the first paragraph?

[Adeon Writer]

Best logo ever. I should have more to say about this, but I'm sorry, that freaking logo.

[Cicadetta Stillwater]

@GoSpeed: The logo's pretty clearly a parody. Yeah, it's probably not sanctioned by LL, but it doesn't *have* to be because, you know, it's a parody. (I think it's hilarious, and maybe even T-shirt worthy…)

I do love the statement this makes about both factory farming (I come from a small farm background.) and about VR. The difference in concept here is that humans do have a choice about how much virtual reality they participate in. For me, SL is a way to connect with other people, listen to their music, appreciate art and just generally have fun. It's not RL -- I need that, too -- and it's certainly not all life (AL). The chickens in this parody, and farm animals in general, do not have a choice.

@Iggy, I don't eat much meat, either. Less and less as time goes on, although sometimes I need it. I just don't get enough protein and iron on a meat-free diet -- at least not right now -- and sometimes I just need a hamburger or a lamb chop. (Preferably lamb, since that inevitably comes from that small farm I grew up on, and I know that those animals are raised with care.) You *can* eat local meat besides chicken if you have the freezer space. Buy a share in a pig, or a steer, or a lamb from a local farmer. Your chicken connection could probably help you out. :)

[Hamlet Au]

Agreed! In fact, agreed so much, I added the logo up top. :)

[irihapeti]

so who is gunna start with the Second Lifestock jokes and how we all battery hens. Or battered chikkins or something. battered like fish. not like battered as in battered battered

[irihapeti]

so who is gunna start with the Second Lifestock jokes and how we all battery hens. Or battered chikkins or something. battered like fish. not like battered as in battered battered

(: