tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7910834.post849041390667965258..comments2023-10-15T08:40:12.715-05:00Comments on Interdisciplinary World: Love and NeotenyTroy Camplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7910834.post-19220590675835495422009-08-06T16:25:42.067-05:002009-08-06T16:25:42.067-05:00Wouldn't a spotted, curly-tailed raccoon be a ...Wouldn't a spotted, curly-tailed raccoon be a bit of a failure, though? ;-)<br /><br />Be careful, too. Raccoons have thumbs. Neotenize raccoons and you might end up creating a real competitor against humans!Troy Camplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7910834.post-34527065847502730392009-08-06T14:47:08.184-05:002009-08-06T14:47:08.184-05:00"...those foxes that approached an experiment..."...those foxes that approached an experimenter lived to breed for another generation; those that snarled at humans or showed aggression toward them were turned into fur coats."<br /><br />Now that's a system. A Czech biochemist friend told me of a dog breeder she knew that was punished for euthanizing hundreds of canine offspring she deemed unprofitable to her breeding efforts. It makes me wonder if the Dawkins-esque rhetorical notion that organisms are no more than throwaway vehicles for more important genes owes as much or more to the peculiar temperament of certain biologists as to their scientific insight. <br /><br />(I'd love to try to breed a tame raccoon. Maybe I'll start a haberdashery.)<br /><br />Thanks for the research tips, BTW. It's a fascinating topic.Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7910834.post-63176921457058479512009-08-04T09:01:59.762-05:002009-08-04T09:01:59.762-05:00Of course. I learned about the foxes from Fred, an...Of course. I learned about the foxes from Fred, and I also read about them <a href="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/woods_hare09/woods_hare09_index.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. More, it seems that the ancestors of humans and bonobos were the first species to use domestication – on themselves.<br /><br />I learned about the neoteny argument from Gribbin, John & Jeremy Cherfas' "The Monkey Puzzle"<br /><br />I also found discussion about it in Bonner's "The Evolution of Culture in Animals."<br />Geoffrey Miller talks about it in "The Mating Mind", as does Matt Ridley in "The Red Queen," though he expresses doubt about the idea.<br /><br />There's not as much about it as one would think. I read an argument against it somewhere objecting to it on the grounds that it meant we are a "retarded ape." Which only went to show the author didn't understand neoteny. Are vertebrates as a whole nothing more than "retarded sea squirts"? Seems more like a step back to get a running start.Troy Camplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7910834.post-79914309035684964272009-08-04T07:43:00.629-05:002009-08-04T07:43:00.629-05:00I'm surprised more people don't make the c...I'm surprised more people don't make the connection between neoteny and paedophilia. It seems fairly straightforward.<br /><br />Speaking of neoteny, have you seen the studies of Russian fur foxes F.T. was talking about in <em>Natural Religion</em>, and/or do you know a good source that treats neoteny, heterochrony, etc?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02312740064923045194noreply@blogger.com