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This is fascinating and a little unsettling at the same time. I keep wondering where the line is between tools that assist stewardship and systems that quietly replace human judgment and responsibility.

donnyto989 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 6:08 am This is fascinating and a little unsettling at the same time. I keep wondering where the line is between tools that assist stewardship and systems that quietly replace human judgment and responsibility.

Same here. And what are all the cowboys supposed to do for a living? Who’s going to brand those cows? Robots? What if the Robot mistakes a person as a cow and brands them?

JohnL wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 8:57 am

donnyto989 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 6:08 am This is fascinating and a little unsettling at the same time. I keep wondering where the line is between tools that assist stewardship and systems that quietly replace human judgment and responsibility.

Same here. And what are all the cowboys supposed to do for a living? Who’s going to brand those cows? Robots? What if the Robot mistakes a person as a cow and brands them?

Or what if the robot is infected with a computer virus that makes it brand humans?

JimFoxvog wrote: ↑Thu Dec 18, 2025 8:32 am

JohnL wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 8:57 am

donnyto989 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 13, 2025 6:08 am This is fascinating and a little unsettling at the same time. I keep wondering where the line is between tools that assist stewardship and systems that quietly replace human judgment and responsibility.

Same here. And what are all the cowboys supposed to do for a living? Who’s going to brand those cows? Robots? What if the Robot mistakes a person as a cow and brands them?

Or what if the robot is infected with a computer virus that makes it brand humans?

That’s always a possibility. Hacking AI is already a problem.

I think most of this tech is already in use in other applications. Crop farmers create digital grid maps of fields to monitor soil conditions and harvest on a granular level so seed and fertilizer can be applied to the soil capable of maximal yield.

My experience with cows is they will tolerate machinery to a point, especially if it is encouraging them to do things they do naturally like move about for grazing. However if they find it too irritating they can turn on it. A motorcycle rider can herd cows but he must respect their space and pace, occasionally when they feel violated they will turn on the motorcycle and tip it over. The contraption in the video looks vulnerable to to that attack. Cows can be surprisingly perceptive and capable of solving mechanical tasks, look up YT videos of cows unlatching gates with their tongues.