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I think your points get at Belyaev's original intentions for the experiments. His papers are not so much "wouldn't it be cool if we could domesticate foxes in j
by david_west 11y ago
I think your points get at Belyaev's original intentions for the experiments. His papers are not so much "wouldn't it be cool if we could domesticate foxes in just a few generations", but speak much more to the fact that, as you select for behavioral traits, physical traits are sort of unintentionally selected. The interesting thing about it (though I don't think Belyaev said this) is that the domesticated physical traits tend to be "cute" by our standards. For example, the domesticated foxes have proportionally wider skulls, which I can't help but read and think about this:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/judgment/cuteify/v1/ http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/judgment/cuteify/v1/
- terhechte 11y agoWell, our definition of "cute" stems from thousands of years of answering the question "will this animal kill me". Those who successfully answered that could procreate, the others not so much.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoI'd say it's more likely that our definition of "cute" stems from the question "is this a human baby".
- usaphp 11y agoAnd what if I don't find other human babies cute? But still find all kittens and puppies cute?