Tired of the human rat race, Thomas Thwaites planned to take a holiday from the complications of being human. He left London and transformed himself into a goat and went to the Alps in Switzerland.
Thomas said, “Posthumanism, transhumanism technology and stuff, is about allowing humans to achieve their desires in a way. And I guess [some people’s] desires aren’t necessarily to become super intelligent.”
How he managed to do it:
Thomas consulted neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, prosthetists, goat sanctuary workers, and goatherders. He then created prosthetics for his arms and legs to roam about in the Alps comfortably on all fours with a herd of his fellow creatures.
He lived on a goat farm in the Swiss Alps amongst actual grazing goats for six days.
He even considered constructing a prosthetic goat stomach – an artificial rumen using actual gut bacteria found in goats that would help him digest grass. To blend in with the herd, he consulted with a behavioral expert on goats.
Thomas said, “I could then strap this bag to my torso and spit chewed up grass into one opening and suck the cultured microbes and volatile fatty acids out another opening like a milkshake, so I can digest them in my true stomach and live off grass in the Alps like a goat.”
Although it was very challenging for Thomas to get used to the prosthetics and bearing the cold and rainy weather, he found those challenges as nothing in comparison to convincing the herd of goats to accept him as one of them.
