Birds May Not Be Real
But Fake Birds That Fly Like Real Birds Are Real
Sometimes it feels like there’s a conspiracy theory for everything. From mud floods to 5G towers, no topic is off limits from an alternative examination or understanding. One such ‘conspiracy theory,’ Birds Aren’t Real (BAR), started as a satirical project in 2017 with the goal of maligning all conspiracy theories by creating an extremely hyperbolic and easily disprovable one.
The originator's other obvious objective was to sell t-shirts and stickers with pithy slogans about fake birds. The ‘theory’ claims that all birds in the United States were killed off by the government circa 1971, and replaced with look-alike surveillance drones. These mechanical birds were deployed by ‘the powers that be’ in order to keep a vigilant eye in the sky on an unwitting population. While the BAR meme attempts to disparage those who believe that the government isn’t always telling us the truth, the truth is that their fiction is taking a step closer to reality.
Festo is a German company that specializes in providing automated solutions to businesses. They made headlines last year for introducing an autonomous flying drone that looks like a bird. Dubbed the BionicSwift, after the species of bird that it emulates, the robots have an amazingly similar flight pattern compared to the real thing. Weighing only 42 grams, they flap their wings in order to gain lift, and use them to glide or change direction in the air.
Designed to fly solo or in a small flock, they do not require a human to steer them, instead relying on “intelligent interaction” between themselves. As a result of their technology, the Swift’s spatial awareness and responsiveness to the environment is spectacular. Their individually constructed foam feathers enable these marvels to perform aviary maneuvers that mimic the action observed in nature. The impressive demonstrations on display in promotional videos could easily convince the most ardent skeptic that phony birds might be filling our skies.
The stated use for these automatons is to identify process improvements within factories. By having a bird's eye view of the way an integrated business is working, they can help pinpoint stoppages and issues while analyzing data to help optimize workflows. Festo actually has a wide range of biologically inspired robots that beautifully imitate their living counterparts (butterfly, jellyfish, manta ray, and plenty more).
The company has also produced another model that they call SmartBird. This version is much larger than the Swift model, but operates on the same principles — flapping its gull-like wings in order to stay aloft and copying the mannerisms of their real-life equivalent. SmartBird has surveillance equipment discreetly mounted inside, and comes complete with creepy, glowing eyes — features that are sure to alarm “bird-truthers.”
While the BAR ‘movement’ was started to make money and mock conspiracy researchers, it's no joke that officially sanctioned spying programs have been exposed on multiple occasions. Closed-circuit television cameras litter the streets of major cities around the globe and citizens are subjected to facial recognition, tracking and little expectation of privacy. When paired with the recent advances in drone technology, a fleet of spy-bird-drones could be conceivable and plausible in the near future. In the end, the members of Birds Aren’t Real may be the ones who end up with egg on their face.
