Perhaps we underestimate pig cognition. Mere days after Elon Musk’s much ballyhooed Neuralink demonstration, Gertrude the Pig may be having her revenge on human society.
Gertrude the Pig was introduced to the world a few weeks ago as one of the first subjects to have a Neuralink computer chip wired into its brain. Witnesses to the demonstration were able to see Gertrude’s neural activity as she snuffed around and touched things with her snout.
Since the demonstration, however, it appears that computer to pig brain hacking may not be a one-way street.
While not yet noticeable to the casual user, data from Google Analytics shows pig content across the internet has increased as much as eleven percent.
“In a normal year, we might expect to see a half to a two percent rise in pig content,” said Igor Testicov, Senior Applications Developer at Google. “An eleven percent jump is certainly something to take notice of.”
Researchers want to know what could be fueling this dramatic rise in swine related content. Is it possible Gertrude the Pig is hacking back?
The Justice Department thinks so. Said one FBI official, “We’re seeing pig bot accounts pop up all over Facebook promoting anything from veganism to turkey bacon. We were able to trace many of these fake accounts back to Russian troll farms. The question is who is hiring the Russians to produce this content?”
If Gertrude knows, she isn’t talking. Her handlers say they’ve noticed no change in Gertrude’s daily activities.
Still, though, experts are at a loss to explain the strange disruptions to financial markets. “Something is influencing the commodities markets,” said one trader. “Hog futures are trading at an all-time low. Currently, there is some big money out there shorting pork bellies.”
“We really have no idea what we’re tapping into here,” warned Testicov. “We may rue the day we linked pigs to powerful computing technology. Once you let the pig out of the pen, it’s not so easily put back.”
If there is something 