A really interesting X article making the claim that, before we humans domesticated dogs, cows, etc. we first domesticated ourselves. We are the ape that imagined, and then created what and who we have become. And the process continues today. Some key thoughts:
One of the chief characteristics of domesticated animals is their reduced aggression compared to wild types.
This retention of juvenile traits into adulthood is called neoteny and is considered a hallmark of domestication.
Although wolves were domesticated into dogs in several regions of the world around 15 to 40 thousand years ago, they were not the first animals to be domesticated. We were.
We invented our humanity. We invented cooking, we invented human language, we invented our sense of fairness, duty, and responsibility. All these came intentionally, out our imaginations of what could be.
Maybe. Or possibly those inventions were us deciding to repeat attempted behavior that appeared to produce good results, and discard those parts that worked "poorly." I'm somewhat a Skinnerian, an empiricist.
