I often re-read classics and reimagine them in the context of the 21st century. The texts invariably undergo a dramatic change. I decide to undertake the same exercise with George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which, if you remember, the animals rebel against their master, for he was exploiting their labour to produce, and sell, surplus food. The master was chased out of the farm, but, ultimately, a ruling class among animals emerged and betrayed the revolution.

In this era of brutal Capitalism and AI threatening labour redundancy, I wear Orwellian glasses to view the world. I see a sprawling artificial forest, where its owner has brought hundreds of animals from far and wide. They don’t hunt or forage for food, for their meals are prepared and served at the temperature they prefer. They fear not the poacher’s bullet. They worry not about their illnesses or wounds, for the forest’s state-of-the art hospital is there to treat them. There couldn’t be a better simulacrum of human-animal intimacy.