BLUE BOXES THAT ARE BIGGER ON THE INSIDE

lorenzomakesthings:

0hdeer:

wombatfractal:

feralnostalgia:

climateadaptation:

“Farming the Unconscious” proposes an alternative way of growing chickens for food: embedding them into a matrix. Free from cruelty, the chickens are unconscious, and free of pain and disease. They are well fed, healthy, and stress free because they are kept out of cages (and not awake) thus responding to ethical arguments against factory farming.  

As long as their brain stem is intact, the homeostatic functions of the chicken will continue to operate. By removing the cerebral cortex of the chicken, its sensory perceptions are removed.

It can be produced in a denser condition while remaining alive, and oblivious.The feet will also be removed so the body of the chicken can be packed together in a dense volume.

Food, water and air are delivered via an arterial network and excreta is removed in the same manner. Around 1000 chickens will be packed into each ‘leaf’, which forms part of a moving, productive system.

The model shows that the chickens take up less space than traditional factory farming. The chickens are “plugged in” to the system, there by eliminating the need for clean up of waste.

The model in the exhibition showed the system in which a chicken would be grown at The Centre for Unconscious Farming. Feed lines provide sustenance, excreata lines remove waste, electrodes stimulate muscle growth.

The proposal is by architecture student, André  Ford, who looked at eliminated not only the problem of intense agricultural farming techniques, but also looked at eliminating cruelty: 

One of the students of the course, André Ford, looked at the intensification of the broiler chicken industry. Each year, the UK raises and kills 800 million chickens or ‘broilers’ for their meat. Broiler rearing might be unethical and unsustainable but it is now the most intensified and automated type of livestock production.

Broiler chickens spend their 6-7week lives in windowless sheds, each containing around 40,000 birds. They are selectively bred to grow faster than they would naturally which often causes skeletal problems and lameness.

Many die because their hearts and lungs cannot keep up with their rapid growth. Information about the atrocious conditions in which they are raised can be found online.

Read the rest at Make Money Not Art

what kind of fucking psychopath thinks this is a better alternative than just not eating chicken?

Because… you know… people will always eat chicken? And if I’m going to eat a chicken I’d much rather eat it like this where I know its going to be clean and healthy.

^ hahahahaha…

…wait…

This is seriously terrifying. The responses like the above one claiming the chickens are healthier this way and the supposition that this treatment is ethical is just… 

Why do we suppose we have the right to treat animals like factories again? Because frankly I never understood it. It’s an animal. Not an inanimate object. 

No, seriously, I just don’t understand how this is not just another form of cruelty.

But that is something you are misunderstanding. These are not chickens. They never have been chickens, they never will be chickens. They are genetically designed lumps of flesh grown in the general shape of a chicken. For all intents and purposes, they are large multi-limbed chicken-trees. 

A simplified explanation of what has happened here is that scientists have taken the DNA out of a couple of chicken CELLS (those little things that grow and make up all organisms and that chickens have heaps of), studied the GENOME (the protein code that tells the cells what to do and what to become - such as a heart cell or a brain cell - very interesting stuff that you should totally look into if you have the time), found the bits that make up the code for the LEGS and the BRAIN (you know, the parts they don’t need if they’re going to be, you know, plants basically), and then MODIFIED those bits (genetically, within a cell, so, yeah, nothings happening to a chicken at the moment, they donated a few cells and went on their merry way). 

Then when all the genetic fiddly-diddly was done, these genetic codes will be ARTIFICIALLY grown (like as in not naturally grown, so no sexual impregnating and egg laying). As in they wont be born, they wont have their brains and feet cut out/off, nothing like that is going to happen - They will grow (test-tube flesh if you like) like they are shown there. No one is getting hurt, no one is being harmed, nothing bad is happening. Almost 100% likely there won’t even be any animal testing involved. All nice and humane. These aren’t chickens, they just look and taste kinda like chickens. That’s when the similarities end.

Think of it this way: Have you heard of In Vitro Meat or Cultured meat? Probably not, I get that most people aren’t genetics nerds like I am. :P

Anyway, In Vitro Meat is meat that has been grown artificially in a lab. Pretty much no cows or pigs were involved at any point after the initial cell harvesting. What then happened was that these cells were used to CULTURE new cells (much like bacteria is cultured and grown). Using this technique, it is possible to grow meat that is fit to be eaten without ever harming an animal. 

Better this: 

Than this, eh?

So you must understand, this is in no way CRUEL. These are not chickens, which a lot of people seem to be missing. These are really just vaguely chicken shaped pieces of artificially grown meat. The article could have worded it a bit better to avoid confusion, but the point still stands.

It’s fairly late and I need to head to sleep, but if you’d like to continue this conversation I would be more than happy to. In fact, I would be delighted. I know a lot of my wording is off too and I didn’t mention a lot of things that I should have but I’m a bit tired and it’s getting hard to focus. But please, if you spot any mistakes or have any questions/rebuttals please do tell/ask/tell me! I love having interesting conversations and hearing other peoples’ opinions! :D