11–20 of 33 posts
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
yet "like a dog" is rarely flattering
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
Imagine if we found out some alien species has their own 'breed' of human they've been genetically engineering for millennia; one that wants nothing more than the company of their alien owners and hates when they leave, that has been bred to be perpetually child-like and devoid of critical thinking in order to better please them, is sometimes pampered and sometimes abused but absolutely subject to the alien species' will. They keep us locked in a house or yard most of the day because their world is dangerous for us, and see all of this as totally justified because they're our intellectual superiors. They make posts on AlienNews about how beautiful the alien-human relationship is because they bred us to be the perfect companion; only magnifying the social compulsions that already existed in humans, to be fair, but still fundamentally changing us.
For the record I do understand that selectively bred humans != dogs, but it still just makes me kinda uncomfortable when I think about it all too much.
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
I dunno, it kinda freaks me out. For thousands of years we've been selectively breeding another species to love us unconditionally, and be so subservient to the point of dependence. Imagine if we found out some alien species has their own 'breed' of human they've been genetically engineering for millennia; one that wants nothing more than the company of their alien owners and hates when they leave, that has been bred…
Isn’t that just being a child? I get the rejection of neoteny. But haven’t humans also become genetically better suited for civilization than our wild ancestors?
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
That the dogs are just about always subordinates and subservient makes the relationship easier to work -and of course, dogs are happy to comply since it's part of their instinct to be subordinate in the presence of a dominant being (canine or person). Human to human is a little more difficult since outside of structured organization, we don't tend to play subordinate in most Western culture. You do see some cultures…
Really? Many of them, to my mind, have endemic issues with sexual violence, honor-based violence (e.g. acid throwing) and foregone development.
Why shouldn't there be? Large numbers of people like dogs. Another Atlantic 'investigation' of a nontroversy.
Nobody said there shouldn’t. It’s an exploratory piece of the intersection of art and the relationship between humans and dogs. It’s genuinely useful to know that ancient Romans eulogized their dogs, in part because it tells us about ourselves.
The human-dog relationship is maybe my favorite thing about being human. We've bred this companion animal that we're able to bond with so deeply, and I so appreciate the simplicity of the bidirectional unconditional love. So rare between humans, so common human-to-dog. This article makes an interesting point about dog attention as a focal point in art - not something I'd noticed before, but I enjoy having it pointed…
I dunno, it kinda freaks me out. For thousands of years we've been selectively breeding another species to love us unconditionally, and be so subservient to the point of dependence. Imagine if we found out some alien species has their own 'breed' of human they've been genetically engineering for millennia; one that wants nothing more than the company of their alien owners and hates when they leave, that has been bred…
The selective breeding that led to the dogs being more subservient also affected humans. As human populations who worked with dogs had advantages over the ones who didn’t. That’s a theory at least.
There are also theories that humans domesticated ourselves. That civilization promotes certain traits over others. Just like when we domesticated other species we chose to promote some traits over others.
Jails could be an example of this process. Violent fools getting removed from society. The genes that led to that stuff being removed. Meanwhile the humans with traits more compatible with society get successful and have kids and so pass on those traits.