In 2018 at a vegan food festival in Berlin, I tried the iAnimal virtual reality. It was my first time using VR, so I thought I knew what to expect... Turns out I didn't really have a clue. The iAnimal software is used in vegan activism; it shows the lifecycle of farm animals from birth to slaughter. Trigger warnings were issued, along with a reminder that all the footage was taken in industry standard farms. I was given a choice: pig or chicken. I chose pig, not knowing I would actually become the pig. I remember being turned completely upside down as the farmer grabbed my ankle, then discarded in the corner. It was invasive. I've since learned that they use 360 degree cameras and noise cancelling headphones to completely tansport the user into this different reality. I think it's interesting that vegan activists are turning to VR. I guess that, as a society, we're distanced from a lot of cruelty and morally bankrupt practices that go on behind closed doors. VR is an effective way to bring people face-to-face to issues with great immediacy. There is an interesting dissonance between the ignorance we hold as a society regarding certain social issues and the simultaneous hunger that we have for learning new technologies in order to experience more of the world. Despite being horrific, I wonder if the vegans were on the money with this one. Because once the excitement of trying a new gadget has attracted people and the headset is on, the user is forced to open their eyes to someone else's reality.
