[ExI] nova on dogs

[Darin Sunley]

Mammals instinctively feel protective towards other mammals whose eyes are
large for their head and whose heads are large for their bodies. It
inhibits otherwise infanticidal males from killing the newborn young of
females they want to mate with.

The interesting question is why this works in humans despite the huge
difference in "fuzziness" between human babies and literally other mammal
species.

Would human babies be cuter if they had a soft, downy coat that they
gradually lost over their first year?

On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 4:21 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of
> efc--- via extropy-chat
> Sent: Wednesday, 20 September, 2023 3:03 PM
> To: spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Cc: efc at swisscows.email
> Subject: Re: [ExI] nova on dogs
>
> And what about the reverse? Have we adapted to love small fluffy things?
> Is it natures way, to protect the children of animals, to make them small
> and fluffy?
>
> Best regards,
> Daniel
>
>
>
> Entirely plausible Daniel.  Human evolution was likely influenced by our
> domestic beasts.  We came to rely on guard dogs, we used horses for
> transportation, mules and oxen for pulling plows, cattle for food, sheep
> for clothing and food.  No doubt all of these influenced the way humanity
> developed.
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 20 Sep 2023, spike jones via extropy-chat wrote:
>
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> > Amazing stuff, ja?  That Nova on dogs proposes the theory that dogs
> > descend from wolves who have the same sequence of genes that cause
> > Williams-Beuren syndrome in humans.  If they are right, it explains a
> > lotta lotta.
> >
> >
> >
> > For so long I wondered if dogs love us for food, or just love us.  I
> > have seen my own dog leave his own treat to come for some lovin from
> > his peoples.  Could he be a wolf with WBS?  I have met a human with
> > that syndrome, and I do see the similarities with a dog’s personality
> > traits.
> >
> >
> >
> > spike
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> >
> > From: spike at rainier66.com <spike at rainier66.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, 20 September, 2023 7:52 AM
> > To: 'ExI chat list' <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> > Cc: spike at rainier66.com
> > Subject: nova on dogs
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> > I have been a fan of Nova for most of my life (the TV series.)  I now
> > get it on internet.
> >
> >
> >
> > The episode on dog domestication whacks it outta the park.  It answers
> > some questions I have wondered about for some time, such as:
> > do dogs love us because we feed them, or do they love us because
> > evolutionary psychology somehow created the brain circuitry for them
> > to love us?
> >
> >
> >
> > spike
> >
> >
>
>
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