The movie has been around for 20 years yet it seems only now that people are applying some of its practices to certain businesses. One of them being the Dairy Industry.
According to an article on CNN, farmers are equipping cows with virtual reality goggles in order to hopefully develop better-tasting milk. In our current age of factory-farming, many animals are kept in small confined spaces which can have detrimental effects on their wellbeing and happiness. This type of environment can impact the quantity and quality of milk that a cow produces. One technological solution that popped up to address this issue is using VR goggles to immerse cows in a lush green field under a digital summer sun. While not enough studies have been done on whether immersing cows in a VR world actually helps milk production, there has been a decrease in the anxiety of the herd that was fitted with the goggles.
While virtual reality appears to be a great tool for industries to improve emotional mood, the real issue is whether they should implement such measures. An important thing to ask ourselves when going forward in our progressively more technological age is whether virtual reality is equivalent to regular reality, especially in concern to ethics and morals. Yes, we may have the technology to digitally transport cattle to a better reality, but shouldn’t our focus be more on actually giving the animals a better reality by implementing policies that require better conditions in factories and better practices for treating the animals? Technology is a great tool for humanity to use when addressing problems and is even arguably a natural part of human evolution, however, we should be conscientious of whether the path technology gives us aligns with our morals. In that, is virtual reality a fair substitute to more tangible pursuits, or does it conflict with our belief in a person’s right to the pursuit of happiness?
Even though the technology is only being tested out on animals at the moment, it may very well be within our lifetimes that we see the use of VR goggles on people in order to improve businesses and industries. Not just as a fun tool to use in the break room, but as a constant piece of company uniform. Once this line is crossed, how long will it be until we create our own matrix, not one run by machines but by companies? By allowing VR technology to be used as the mainstream solution to improving the conditions of animals and workers, we risk giving up real freedom for virtual pleasure.