Great article. Also pretty sad to see what we’ve ended up with in the name of business. Maybe if humanity survived another few hundred years we will look back on this time of corporations with disgust.
Humanity will survive. Our current society may not.
As just another form of creeping oppression, leading to a renewal of absolutism.
I wonder if we ever find a system that doesn’t require a constant fighting for freedom and basic rights.
Thanks. That was very interesting.
Hmmm, roughly doubling in size every 20-30 years. Fortunately it should be at least a few centuries before we really have to worry.
Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/605/
Relevant radio drama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao4ySjqjV3c
Actually, chickens are already so big, they’ll die from the weight before getting to adulthood.
So why does the one on the right have the thing on its head and the others dont
These look like they’re taken at different stages in a chicken’s life. The more developed head thingy and size of the bird is because it’s older.
That’s exactly what i was getting at
Some broiler chickens are 6 weeks when slaughtered. That’s the most extreme they get… So far.
Balut exists.
In the 1950s, a competition was held to create the “chicken of tomorrow” through selective breeding. This is the path that got us to the modern broiler chicken. Unlike their recent ancestors (and much unlike their distant ones) these birds grow so large so quickly that they are prone to health issues and disease.
This is a quick and interesting read: https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/backyard-revival-american-heritage-poultry/feature/the-chicken-of-tomorrow
I love this meme, makes me laugh every time!
in a few years you’ll be able to feed a whole family with just one chicken
I mean… You can now, plus some veg.
At some point it looks like a final boss, towering over us with laser eyes and an angry Dr. Wily shouting obscenities piloting it.
Birds are basically today’s lizards and like most lizards can live a very long time and grow throughout their lives. When you think about how big alligators can get in a similar amount of time, it isn’t surprising that chickens can also.
My chickens don’t keep growing luckily and I had a few that were over a decade.
That’d be one tough old bird. I wouldn’t eat it either.
I have a 23-year-old ball python. I can confidently say he has not grown throughout his entire life, and has in fact for the last almost two decades stayed at a comfortable 3.5’ long.
Maybe he is going to live a couple centuries and your short window onto his life has foreshortened your view?
What if chickens seem simple because they share a single hive mind?
So it’s a ghoul then.
That’s not just any chicken, that’s The Chicken of Tomorrow!
