Brain-Chipped Pigeons in Russia: Exploiting Sentient Beings as Flying Machines

neiry.ru

I think that all of us, when we walk through the city, see pigeons on the sidewalks, on the roofs, in the squares; some hate them, some are indifferent, some appreciate them. Anyway, they are part of the urban background, part of everyday life for as long as I can remember. And speaking of pigeons, I read this news that really saddened me.

In Russia, the startup Neiry Group is experimenting with the use of pigeons as biodrones. You read that right, biodrones, something I had never heard of before. Basically, the animals are implanted with electrodes in the brain, connected to a small technological backpack with a controller, GPS, camera, and solar panels. Then, through electrical stimulations of specific areas of the brain, the system does not directly guide the flight, but induces the pigeon to prefer certain directions over others. Of course, the company, to make a good impression, claims that the animal remains free to fly and behave naturally, but within this perimeter of guided choices, where is the freedom?

According to Neiry, this approach would allow overcoming the limits of traditional drones: greater autonomy, the ability to cover hundreds of kilometers per day, lower energy consumption, and less chance of being detected and moving unnoticed. The declared applications, of course, are made to seem humanitarian, such as environmental monitoring, rescue operations, or inspections of infrastructure in areas difficult to reach. Everything is presented as a virtuous example of integration between biology and technology.

Beyond the usual empty talk for public opinion and the reassuring language, the premise remains the same: the body of an animal becomes a technological infrastructure. A tool. A biological support more efficient than a machine. The fact that the control is “partial” or “gentle” does not change the substance: we are intervening directly in the nervous system of a sentient being to bend it to human purposes, not to mention the invasiveness of the implant procedure, which is certainly not without risks.

They have the hypocrisy to say “it does not suffer”, “everything is monitored”, “it serves a higher good”, and these are the same nonsense that are said in animal experimentation, in farms, in laboratories; the logic is always the same.

In an era in which experiments, furs, and other abuses are gradually being banned and some positive progress is achieved, here come biotechnologies to erase the battles won so far, normalizing the use of animals as technology, calling it progress without stopping to look at the ethical cost it entails.

References: https://neiry.ru/en/news/a4it4ohtf1-neiry-announces-early-testing-of-bio-dro