Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrmanner | Hacker News Reader

> they do not prevent them falling into that river in the first place

The article explains pretty well how the devices prevent cows from falling into the river:

> Solar-powered GPS devices emit a high-pitched sound as the animal moves through a boundary zone towards the water, with a mild electric pulse delivered if it fails to turn around.

View on HN

So the cow learns there is a 'good zone' or a 'bad zone' to be in. And how does the cow - which now may be panicking - know it does not exit the 'bad zone' by, let's say, jumping into the river?

Applying human intelligence to bovines may be misguided.

They're not particularly dumb animals (similar to the average dog), generally they do get the idea pretty quickly. (There is a gradient of warning as they approach the edge of the zone, so it's not just suddenly a big shock)

I'd compare their intelligence to cats, in that a dog uses its intelligence to please its owner, and a cat uses its intelligence to do whatever it pleases. :-)

Someone below linked to a company providing this technology and it seems we do now have remote control cows (no panicking that I can see):

https://www.instagram.com/halterhq/reel/C_hq8_iSnCH/

It's inarguably smart, but... freaking dystopian.

I ... honestly don't know if I should be impressed or horrified. Essentially, they have become cyborgs. Mootrons?

I stand corrected either way.

[shrug]

Invisible Fence (https://www.invisiblefence.com/) has been a thing at least since the early 2000's when we had one for our dog.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com