51–60 of 133 posts
How many of you glance at this website and think "fraud engine"? This is a fantastic vehicle to suck money out of people that love their pets, and love animals in general. I know nothing about these people, but my fraud alarms are screaming.
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> What domesticated animals were bread for "cuteness"? Dogs. > Cats are mice hunters Cats blur the line between domestication and taming. > Most popular dog breeds were selected for killing and dog fight One can breed for more than one thing. (Dog fighting as a selection pressure is very modern and very limited.) Dogs literally evolved a muscle to make them more appealing to (and help them communicate with) humans [1…
Dog fighting is limited, but most dog breeds have been bred primarily for a specific practical purpose. > Dogs literally evolved a muscle to make them more appealing to (and help them communicate with) humans Not necessarily exactly cuteness. The other explanation suggested is better communication in general - by exposing the whites of their eyes we can see what they are looking at, which is an important cue for huma…
Sure. But most of those traits are shallow. Let the breed go stray and many characteristics go away. The neoteny does not.
> Not necessarily exactly cuteness
The neoteny—large eyes and heads, for example—is precisely cuteness. Not all breeds are equally neotenic. But they’re very much not wolves.
Obviously most people disagree, but I don't think we should search for medical advances that make life significantly longer. We should search for ideas that make the finite life on this planet significantly better. A longer life is dangerous. If people could live 150 or 200 years that will make the problems on this planet much worse since the desire to accumulate wealth over that time would be insane.
I’d argue this is the popular take. With almost any medical research. “Don’t play god” and all that. At least while the benefit is hypothetical.
> If people could live 150 or 200 years that will make the problems on this planet much worse
Climate change would become a peach. We love to talk about thinking of the children, but self interest is more powerful among most. Longer lives mean longer-term thinking.
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> A longer life is dangerous. If people could live 150 or 200 years that will make the problems on this planet much worse since the desire to accumulate wealth over that time would be insane. I honestly think this meme is way more dangerous and insane than the idea of having a longer and healthier life
Why?
If 150 years is dangerous, why not 80?
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Well study participants aren't charged. Maybe it's fraud against those who are funding it, but the pet owners themselves are not the current target.
I'd examine this much deeper before engaging. It's far too consumer targeted, far too feel good. I would not be surprised if "becoming a partner" or "community scientist" required fees or more.
They share a list of academic publications that have resulted from the project, and their Team page lists the full names a sizable large number of people.
Their FAQ indicates that the cost of the DNA Kit and other things are covered by the project funding. [1]
What made you think that it's engaging in fraud? I'm genuinely curious.
I'm not involved in the project but just from looking at the site for several minutes, it seems to be a fairly reasonable research project.
Or did you say "fraud" less to mean "these are people who are stealing money and e.g., hoarding it away" and more to mean "these are people engaging in a research project I disapprove of"?
[1] https://dogagingproject.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/441699...
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Is there much difference between an individual living and accumulating wealth over 200 years vs 3 generations of a family living and accumulating wealth over that time? External factors that change fortunes would mostly still stay the same. Biggest difference I can think of would be less change of an incompetent younger generation throwing the wealth away
Well the "throwing wealth away" is a big difference. And it's not just a matter of wealth. It's what people do with that wealth, such as influence the world negatively. The top 1% of those hell-bent on doing strange things usually don't have children that are similarly obsessed. And finally, it would increase the TOTAL number of people, which would exacerbate the situation because an absolute total number of people m…
The hypothesis is exploitation scales with population?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dog fighting is limited, but most dog breeds have been bred primarily for a specific practical purpose. > Dogs literally evolved a muscle to make them more appealing to (and help them communicate with) humans Not necessarily exactly cuteness. The other explanation suggested is better communication in general - by exposing the whites of their eyes we can see what they are looking at, which is an important cue for huma…
> most dog breeds have been bred primarily for a specific practical purpose Sure. But most of those traits are shallow. Let the breed go stray and many characteristics go away. The neoteny does not. > Not necessarily exactly cuteness The neoteny—large eyes and heads, for example—is precisely cuteness. Not all breeds are equally neotenic. But they’re very much not wolves.
A lot of characteristics seem to be bred in and instinctive - breed specific behaviour occurs without training. Strays do not breed pure so of course breed specific characteristics are lost.
> The neoteny—large eyes and heads, for example—is precisely cuteness
To an extent yes. The specific trait mentioned in the comment I was replying to was not neotenous. Not all neotonous traits are physically cute.
How many of you glance at this website and think "fraud engine"? This is a fantastic vehicle to suck money out of people that love their pets, and love animals in general. I know nothing about these people, but my fraud alarms are screaming.
If interested -
Project lead interviewed by Dr. Peter Attia: https://peterattiamd.com/mattkaeberlein/
Rapamycin: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/15/rapamycin...
Need one for cats.
-A breakfast of eggs, turkey bacon, broccoli and coffee … with cream
-A splash of red wine to “circulate the arteries”
-Stimulation by way of nature documentaries screened in his garage-turned-theater
-Lots of love and attention
See: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-raise-a-165-yea...