Someone is definitely joking.

In order to fool enclosed chickens into thinking they are free-range chickens, developer Austin Stewart has started the Second Livestock project. The Oculus Rift-like apparatus apparently allows the chicken to exist in a virtual environment, interacting with their surroundings and using motion tracking to peck at virtual bugs. Basically, these chickens will live in a video game, thinking that they’re free range, without the farmer needing to dedicate the space.

“There’s waving grass, a few trees and some artificial intelligence chickens wandering around as well,” says Stewart.

The more you find out about the project, the more it sounds like a straight-faced poke at modern social norms. “It’s as much about animal husbandry as it is about human husbandry,” Stewart said at one of the TED-like talks he has been giving around the midwest. “We live in little boxes, we work in little boxes, and then we’re engaging in these virtual environments more. Why wouldn’t chickens choose the same thing?”

Second Livestock Teaser from Austin Stewart on Vimeo.

What Sparks Our Fire: Self-awareness is a very important aspect of human life, but maybe not chicken life.

Do you think chickens would know the difference?