The tale of America’s unsuccessful shadowcat experiment.
Issue #78
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Greetings ET people 🖖🏾
In the midst of the cold war—around 1961—America sought to outdo its long-time rival, Russia.
The CIA hatched a plan to transform cats into spy animals. The agency deemed humans too large, heavy-footed, and not stealthy enough for espionage. It was a novel approach.
The project, named “Acoustic Kitty,” met its demise after the first cat subject was killed by a car—$20 million wasted. The Bay of Pigs debacle turned into a massive failure.
This remains a point of contention to this day, mainly because the US—experts in storytelling—never fully acknowledged that the Bay of Pigs disaster triggered the experiment.
Change can be intimidating, unpredictable, and sometimes, as in the case of Acoustic Kitty, results in spectacular failures.
However, for three tech enthusiasts in today’s feature, confronting the fear of failure was the only way forward. For Titilola Shittu, Olatomide Awoyomi, and Peculiar Richard, embracing the unknown led them to