‽istis reclaims virtual reality (weekending January 15th 2022)
This week, ‽istis caught a news story (in a newly discovered online source for news, WION) (1) with the headline: ‘Cows in Turkey enjoy VR headsets; owner reports they are more relaxed, milk yield increased’. Apparently, the farmer in Türkiye (a country with a new name for 2022) has been experimenting with VR (virtual reality) headsets for cows.
Reportedly the illusion is created and, as if by magic, the cows may think that they are outside in a sunny field. The headsets have apparently been developed with vets, moulded for comfort and with software adapted to produce colours for the bovine spectrum. WION reports: ‘Izzet Koçak claims his cows' milk output has increased from 22 litres to 27 litres a day after using the VR devices on two of them. According to Koçak, previous studies have shown that environmental conditions affect the health and milk production of cows. In addition to walking his animals around the large pasture, Koçak allows them to listen to relaxing music with these VR glasses.’
And ‽istis wonders...
‽ about the use of technology in farming and the striving for maximum yields in an industrialised system with reliance on animals, sentient beings, at its heart
‽ about matters of animal welfare and animal rights somewhere in the mix - where the phrase ‘treated humanely’ is sometimes used, and yet where there is ample evidence of just how badly humans can treat each other (2)
‽ about the demand for both profit down throughout the chain and cheapness at the point of consumption, and the powerful pressures this demand may bring
With visualisation apparently a powerful tool (3) in the preparation of athletes and sports people (though Novak Djokavic presumably did not conjure up images of Victoria’s Park Hotel to inspire him for the Australian Open!), then ‽istis began to wonder what virtual images and what illusions might be created that could help with my productivity, or yours or other people that we can think of?
‽ Perhaps for me: A Twitter account with lots of followers; a regular slot in a newspaper or magazine; that finished ‘other project’ (dream on!)
‽ Possibly for you: left blank for you to complete as appropriate
‽ Maybe you might also like to provide your own answers for the following:
an apparently beleaguered Prime Minister…
an ex-HRH…
the England cricket team…
every premier league football team apart from Manchester City…
Etc, etc.
And ‽istis wonders about reality and illusion, about the power of seeing, of imagining, of having just a glimpse of how things could be - perhaps, possibly, maybe‽
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
https://www.wionews.com/world/cows-in-turkey-enjoy-vr-headsets-owner-reports-they-are-more-relaxed-milk-yield-increased-444060 From WION: ‘We are a team of seasoned and daring, young journalists of diverse nationalities. World is One, WION, examines global issues with in-depth analysis. Using our social media platforms we open the conversation about our world with our users. We provide much more than the news of the day. Our aim to empower people to explore their world. reportage and we stand for a globalised united world.’ (from ‘About Us’)
It was tempting to look up Wikipedia to see if any particular atrocities occured this day or this week in ‘history’, but it appears that on this day ‘January 15th 2001 Wikipedia itself - a ‘free content encyclopedia’ - was launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Too good not to note!
See, for example: https://discobolulunefs.ro/media/September2020.4.pdf ‘VISUALISATION TECHNIQUES IN SPORT – THE MENTAL ROAD MAP FOR SUCCESS’ by R PREDOIU et al
