Blockchain Chicken Farm is a collection of essays about the use of technology in rural China. Wang correctly notes that the stereotype of rural culture is it's backward and technologically ignorant. Her pieces present various initiatives that use technology to revitalize rural communities and integrate them into the globalized world. The title essay visits a chicken farm that tries to overcome supply-chain trust issues by tagging its organic product with a blockchain-protected ankle bracelet. Others describe using AI to monitor pig farms, drones to deliver pesticides in a targeted fashion, and an online shopping platform to provide villages with additional sources of income. Most of the projects are part of a government-sanctioned Rural Rejuvenation program.
Wang describes their visits to these projects in a casual tone that manages to feel authentic and to make its points without feeling didactic. The independent chapters did not attempt to work together toward a single argument, although Wang does repeatedly point out that techno-optimism assumes we can improve human flourishing through automation.
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