5 ms·

On a long enough timeline it’s possible that cat-people and dog-people evolve separately into different species

by conductr 10mo ago

thebruce87m 10mo ago
I think some dog people already are a different species - hanging bags of dog shit on trees would never occur to me for example. I’d hate to see what their Christmas trees look like.
- pxc 10mo ago
  Huh? Who does that?
  - sjw987 10mo ago
    In the UK, it's incredibly common for dog owners to do this. When confronted about leaving the bagged dog shit somewhere they always say they're going to pick it up on the way back, yet the next day it's still there. Modern British dog owners are incredibly irresponsible surrounding how they look after their pets and how they handle the pets mess. Covid made it measurably worse.
    - FeteCommuniste 10mo ago
      > In the UK, it's incredibly common for dog owners to do this. That's wild. I've never once seen this in the US. Obviously there are people who just don't clean up after their dogs in the first place, but to clean it up and then hang the bagged crap on a tree? Haha.
      - jamiecurle 10mo ago
        They do it a lot. My garden backs onto a public woodland and I can confirm it happens. Last summer when I tidied up out the back of my house, I found at least five years worth of buried dog turds in bags. Cleaning it up was not fun. I used a backpack blower to blow it all into line of "turd shame" away from the houses. It looks a lot nicer out there now and I gave the trees a little prune (I'm a qualified arborist) so people know this is a "tidy area" and so far no more turds in bags.
      - tyjen 10mo ago
        I've never seen it in a tree, but I do see some owners leaving their crap bags on hiking trails and often forgetting about them on the return trip. I'd rather they let the dog poop in the forest instead of encapsulating it in a plastic bag until a Good Samaritan picks it up.
      - gweinberg 9mo ago
        In the US they don't hang it on trees, they just leave by the side of the trail or road or whatever. But it is very common to see bags of dogshit on the sidewalk or by the side of a trail in the US.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 9mo ago
        A lot of times, they just toss the bag on the ground. Each morning, I take a 5K walk around the neighborhood, and am constantly passing cast-off shitbags. They are usually brightly-colored, and are easy to spot. I remember, once, being at a stop light, on a fairly major road, where a guy was walking his dog, and just dropped the bag, right there. He did it kind of surreptitiously, but he still did it in front of everyone. Probably was a fairly high-value person, too. It was a pretty tony neighborhood.
    - dboreham 9mo ago
      One of the few benefits of widespread gun ownership in the USA: overt antisocial behavior is less common.
      - cmrx64 9mo ago
        Contrariwise, I was part of the troupe of people that daily picked up these bags along walking trails. One of the few benefits of living in the USA: covert prosocial behavior is extremely common.
- conductr 10mo ago
  This seems normal to me. I've never done it or even seen it - but it seems everyone exercises a slightly personalized disregard for the very society they are a part of these days
sph 10mo ago
Only if cat-people and dog-people don't intermingle. But given how hostile many cat-people are (see sibling comment), compared to dog-people which tend to also enjoy the company of cats, I can imagine a timeline where this misanthropist branch of humans splits off, goes to live in trees and hisses at anybody that comes nearby.
- FeteCommuniste 10mo ago
  Hmm, I've known a good number of dog people who dislike cats. Never read any stats on the ratio of cat-lover+dog-hater to dog-lover+cat-hater groups, though.
- steve1977 10mo ago
  > goes to live in trees Mainly because they lost the ability to climb down.
  - IAmBroom 10mo ago
    A symbiotic relationship with Homo caniphilus firemen, then?
    - deleted 10mo ago
      [deleted]
ddawson 10mo ago
Culture has been affected by Toxoplasmosis which humans are primarily exposed to through cats so this makes sense.
- akkad33 10mo ago
  There's no evidence that Toxoplasmosis has that effect on humans
pokstad 10mo ago
I watched a documentary on dogs that was cheerful until the last 5% when they mentioned modern day dog owners. The film speculated that dogs might be a considered like a parasite that infiltrates human families and causes them to stop breeding humans and instead only have dogs and cats. So if that’s the case, the evolution ends for us :)
- conductr 10mo ago
  I've heard this before. I think better term than parasite is an addictive drug since we created these types of pet dogs and indulge on them. I feel strongly the trend of dog ownership overtaking people having children, while real, is more so a result of modern economic realities regarding cost of housing and raising a child.
  - akkad33 10mo ago
    I don't know to what extent cost is stopping people from having kids. Many poor people have kids. And then they struggle to raise them.
    - conductr 10mo ago
      Poverty breeds but globally fertility rates are declining. Economics isn't the only thing driving it but parasitic puppies isn't even in the debate :) https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/the-debate-over-falling-fertility-david-bloom https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/the...
  - pokstad 10mo ago
    Cost is definitely a factor, but I think the ease and convenience of a dog over the stress of children also plays a big role. Dogs are obedient and mature in less than 2 years.
TacticalCoder 10mo ago
It's so weird that cats are still so feline, basically miniature tigers/lions but that dogs went so much off the rails compared to majestic wolves. Sure, some dogs are wolves-like but many just lot the plot: chihuahuas, daschhunds (my mom always had those: friendly but... not wolves-like), pugs, sharpeis, etc. So many are just... Not badass? A wolf is badass. Cats are totally badass: they're natural born killers, hunting billions of poor preys yearly. My parents are divorced. Father always had huge dogs (St. Bernard, Leonberg, Newfoundland, etc.) while mother always had tiny dogs (daschunds). I loved these dogs but I really hate having to take care of dog poo. So I'm a cat person. As a bonus my miniature tiger takes care of itself and goes shitting where nobody can see it.
- conductr 10mo ago
  Dogs get bred for specific personality traits and to develop physical traits. My border collie was a maniac that just wanted to work all day every day. That herding part of his personality was extremely prevalent. Even if I tossed a treat on the ground, it never would occur to him to use his nose, he'd frantically look all around. Even if it was right under his nose if he didn't see it then it's as if it didn't exist. Likewise, from 1000 yards away I could make subtle hand jesture and he knew to go get his ball that was 1000 yards in another direction and bring it to me; over half our communication was body language and it even had context. Like if we were out somewhere and he was off leash, also 1000 yards away, I could nod my head slightly and he knew it was time to go and he jumped in the truck. Same head nod elsewhere meant something else. It's hard to explain but that was the most connected I've ever been to another creature (even my wife in many ways if I'm being honest, he never misunderstood me :)). Likewise, I now have a golden doodle. It's like having a giant 5 year old puppy. They've been bred to be docile, kid friendly, playful, cute, non-shedding, and the perfect family/instagram dog. But they're extremely dopey when compared to a border collie. I'm not sure what cats get bred for. Fur length? Ability to shit in a box? I'm guessing they've not been bred too much on their personality, which is why they are mostly the same and still miniature tigers.
  - WalterBright 9mo ago
    > Dogs get bred for specific personality traits and to develop physical traits. If I was a doggie researcher, I'd be breeding them for general intelligence and see how far that can go. For example, some dogs have vocabularies of over 100 words.
overfeed 9mo ago
My bet is the other species will be a result of Toxoplasma gondii zombification.

On a long enough timeline it’s possible that cat-people and dog-people evolve separately into different species

I think some dog people already are a different species - hanging bags of dog shit on trees would never occur to me for example. I’d hate to see what their Christmas trees look like.

pxc 10mo ago
Huh? Who does that?
- sjw987 10mo ago
  In the UK, it's incredibly common for dog owners to do this. When confronted about leaving the bagged dog shit somewhere they always say they're going to pick it up on the way back, yet the next day it's still there. Modern British dog owners are incredibly irresponsible surrounding how they look after their pets and how they handle the pets mess. Covid made it measurably worse.
  - FeteCommuniste 10mo ago
    > In the UK, it's incredibly common for dog owners to do this. That's wild. I've never once seen this in the US. Obviously there are people who just don't clean up after their dogs in the first place, but to clean it up and then hang the bagged crap on a tree? Haha.
    - jamiecurle 10mo ago
      They do it a lot. My garden backs onto a public woodland and I can confirm it happens. Last summer when I tidied up out the back of my house, I found at least five years worth of buried dog turds in bags. Cleaning it up was not fun. I used a backpack blower to blow it all into line of "turd shame" away from the houses. It looks a lot nicer out there now and I gave the trees a little prune (I'm a qualified arborist) so people know this is a "tidy area" and so far no more turds in bags.
    - tyjen 10mo ago
      I've never seen it in a tree, but I do see some owners leaving their crap bags on hiking trails and often forgetting about them on the return trip. I'd rather they let the dog poop in the forest instead of encapsulating it in a plastic bag until a Good Samaritan picks it up.
    - gweinberg 9mo ago
      In the US they don't hang it on trees, they just leave by the side of the trail or road or whatever. But it is very common to see bags of dogshit on the sidewalk or by the side of a trail in the US.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 9mo ago
      A lot of times, they just toss the bag on the ground. Each morning, I take a 5K walk around the neighborhood, and am constantly passing cast-off shitbags. They are usually brightly-colored, and are easy to spot. I remember, once, being at a stop light, on a fairly major road, where a guy was walking his dog, and just dropped the bag, right there. He did it kind of surreptitiously, but he still did it in front of everyone. Probably was a fairly high-value person, too. It was a pretty tony neighborhood.
  - dboreham 9mo ago
    One of the few benefits of widespread gun ownership in the USA: overt antisocial behavior is less common.
    - cmrx64 9mo ago
      Contrariwise, I was part of the troupe of people that daily picked up these bags along walking trails. One of the few benefits of living in the USA: covert prosocial behavior is extremely common.
conductr 10mo ago
This seems normal to me. I've never done it or even seen it - but it seems everyone exercises a slightly personalized disregard for the very society they are a part of these days

sph 10mo ago

Only if cat-people and dog-people don't intermingle. But given how hostile many cat-people are (see sibling comment), compared to dog-people which tend to also enjoy the company of cats, I can imagine a timeline where this misanthropist branch of humans splits off, goes to live in trees and hisses at anybody that comes nearby.

FeteCommuniste 10mo ago
Hmm, I've known a good number of dog people who dislike cats. Never read any stats on the ratio of cat-lover+dog-hater to dog-lover+cat-hater groups, though.
steve1977 10mo ago
> goes to live in trees Mainly because they lost the ability to climb down.
- IAmBroom 10mo ago
  A symbiotic relationship with Homo caniphilus firemen, then?
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]

ddawson 10mo ago

Culture has been affected by Toxoplasmosis which humans are primarily exposed to through cats so this makes sense.

akkad33 10mo ago
There's no evidence that Toxoplasmosis has that effect on humans

pokstad 10mo ago

I watched a documentary on dogs that was cheerful until the last 5% when they mentioned modern day dog owners. The film speculated that dogs might be a considered like a parasite that infiltrates human families and causes them to stop breeding humans and instead only have dogs and cats. So if that’s the case, the evolution ends for us :)

conductr 10mo ago
I've heard this before. I think better term than parasite is an addictive drug since we created these types of pet dogs and indulge on them. I feel strongly the trend of dog ownership overtaking people having children, while real, is more so a result of modern economic realities regarding cost of housing and raising a child.
- akkad33 10mo ago
  I don't know to what extent cost is stopping people from having kids. Many poor people have kids. And then they struggle to raise them.
  - conductr 10mo ago
    Poverty breeds but globally fertility rates are declining. Economics isn't the only thing driving it but parasitic puppies isn't even in the debate :) https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/the-debate-over-falling-fertility-david-bloom https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/06/the...
- pokstad 10mo ago
  Cost is definitely a factor, but I think the ease and convenience of a dog over the stress of children also plays a big role. Dogs are obedient and mature in less than 2 years.

TacticalCoder 10mo ago

It's so weird that cats are still so feline, basically miniature tigers/lions but that dogs went so much off the rails compared to majestic wolves. Sure, some dogs are wolves-like but many just lot the plot: chihuahuas, daschhunds (my mom always had those: friendly but... not wolves-like), pugs, sharpeis, etc. So many are just... Not badass? A wolf is badass. Cats are totally badass: they're natural born killers, hunting billions of poor preys yearly. My parents are divorced. Father always had huge dogs (St. Bernard, Leonberg, Newfoundland, etc.) while mother always had tiny dogs (daschunds). I loved these dogs but I really hate having to take care of dog poo. So I'm a cat person. As a bonus my miniature tiger takes care of itself and goes shitting where nobody can see it.

conductr 10mo ago
Dogs get bred for specific personality traits and to develop physical traits. My border collie was a maniac that just wanted to work all day every day. That herding part of his personality was extremely prevalent. Even if I tossed a treat on the ground, it never would occur to him to use his nose, he'd frantically look all around. Even if it was right under his nose if he didn't see it then it's as if it didn't exist. Likewise, from 1000 yards away I could make subtle hand jesture and he knew to go get his ball that was 1000 yards in another direction and bring it to me; over half our communication was body language and it even had context. Like if we were out somewhere and he was off leash, also 1000 yards away, I could nod my head slightly and he knew it was time to go and he jumped in the truck. Same head nod elsewhere meant something else. It's hard to explain but that was the most connected I've ever been to another creature (even my wife in many ways if I'm being honest, he never misunderstood me :)). Likewise, I now have a golden doodle. It's like having a giant 5 year old puppy. They've been bred to be docile, kid friendly, playful, cute, non-shedding, and the perfect family/instagram dog. But they're extremely dopey when compared to a border collie. I'm not sure what cats get bred for. Fur length? Ability to shit in a box? I'm guessing they've not been bred too much on their personality, which is why they are mostly the same and still miniature tigers.
- WalterBright 9mo ago
  > Dogs get bred for specific personality traits and to develop physical traits. If I was a doggie researcher, I'd be breeding them for general intelligence and see how far that can go. For example, some dogs have vocabularies of over 100 words.

overfeed 9mo ago

My bet is the other species will be a result of Toxoplasma gondii zombification.