Re: UPL: Dogs and Domestication

Delvieron@aol.com
Fri, 3 Dec 1999 19:37:40 EST

<< I don't think one should uplift based on affection. I suggest again
octopodes for the reasons I gave earlier. Dogs would be nice to do, though I think they would be harder in some ways. Plus more people might see uplifting them as animal cruelty.>>

Actually, I think that affection might be one of the best reasons I can think of to uplift. And while some people might call it animal cruelty, I do not, and hey, some people probably think breeding dogs is also animal cruelty.

<< The case is not so clear as Glen would think. I recommend he and others
read Darcy F. Morey's "The Early Evolution of the Domestic Dog" (in _American Scientist_ 82(4) July-August 1994) and Lyudmila N. Trut's "Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment" (in _American Scientist_ 87(2) March-April 1999). While I don't think humans have had no input into domestication, domestication (for dogs and other domesticated organisms) is a type of niche exploitation.>>

I agree that in the case of dogs, we might have a situation where the species actually "chose" to be "domesticated". I actually think that makes it even better to uplift dogs; we're not uplifting an enslaved species but our willing partners. However, we certaily have been in the driver's seat as far as developing different breeds. Do you think those early proto dogs really had in mind becoming toy poodles when they joined our hunting parties?<G>

<< Dogs used humans! The furry bastards!:) This whole uplifting thread might
merely be their attempt to change who sits at whose feet.:)>>

It's all the insidious plan of Professor Peabody! Soon humans shall be reduced to a mass of Shermans!<rbsg>

<< I'm with you there. Though one would hope the SI brings with it rewards
such that an SI would not carry over any malevolence from its former state. Hard to say though, since this is highly speculative.

Cheers!

Daniel Ust >>

Yes, one would hope. Sometimes though, you've just got to do your best and let the chips fall where they may....though a juicy steak may help ease the transition.

Glen Finney