Science going to the dogs

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These guys are barking up the wrong tree:

'Some researchers question whether dogs experience feelings like love and loyalty, or whether their winning ways are just a matter of instincts that evolved because being a hanger-on is an easier way to make a living than running down elk.'

I question whether these researchers really have 'questions' and 'findings,' or if they have just evolved to act as if they because being a hanger-on around grant-writing agencies is easier than working for a living.

'Raymond Coppinger, a professor emeritus of biology at Hampshire College, noted in his landmark 2001 book, “Dogs,” that “best friend” is not an “ecological definition.” And he suggested that “the domestic house dog may have evolved into a parasite.”'

You know what else is not an "ecological definition," Raymond? Professor emeritus. And I suggest that some intellectuals have evolved into parasites.

Comments

  1. Unknown1:34 PM

    Excellent post, Gene!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Silas Barta7:19 PM

    I have a real nightmare version of this mentality: imagine if we're being watched over by superintelligent beings (say, advanced aliens, or if the universe is a simulation, the people monitoring it). They might observe us and say things like:

    "Note how human specimen J goes 'apesh--' when her infant is taken from her, and then paces for hours in her cell, clutches at her womb, cries, and so on. But be cautious: this is not real anger or desperation. It is merely the execution a programmed response due to evolutionary factors. It cannot be compared to the real anger you and I have over, say, a metasynth conflict."

    ReplyDelete

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