There is a famous autistic cattlewoman (with many doctorates in psychology and such) who realized that cattlemen were scaring the shit out of cattle when they were sorting them by making them go through transparent fences with straight, jagged angles. She suggested that much less livestock would be lost and the process would be much easier (thus less expensive) if the fences were made opaque and curved out, obviously the design was much more specific and complex, so that the cows felt at peace during the sorting process.
This was very succesful.
What do you think: is it better to ease the minds of the cattle, also thereby reducing loss of capital, or is there something ceremonially important about the ritual of scaring the shit out of the animals as they get herded? Are we cheating nature out of something by making the experience soothing and without clear transition? Or is it just a win-win all around?
