Neoteny may present in adult animals in the form of floppy ears and fluffy tails as a result of domestication (see the domesticated silver fox for an example) but that’s not what I’m referring to as infantilizing. I’m referring to the emotional stunting which takes place when we domesticate an animal. Household pets rarely reach emotional maturity on par with their non-domesticated counterparts. They do not develop an adults sensibilities and instead continue to rely on the ‘mother’ figure to supply their basic needs. I thought I was being clear when I said
Is paedomorphism a better word? Sure, why not? But neoteny isn’t what I was referring to.
As far as morality is concerned, I don’t believe I broached the subject. I’ve weighed none of this on such a scale. I was talking about how poor we are at measuring our own intelligence and questioning why we think our methods are applicable to non-ape species. It is my position that a combination of hubris and a world view based on ape perceptions might cause a person to view a dog as stupid. Certainly our limited capacity for measuring intelligence is not at all applicable to dogs, cats, and only barely people.
I don’t know how to judge intelligence effectively, we sort of get a subjective sense of it. Dogs are smart, dolphins sure, octopi very and squid… simply terrific with spicy mayo dipping sauce.
But believe me that it is the human reaction that interests me more.
I’m far from being certain about it, but I suspect that people don’t get as defensive for questioning their pet hamster’s or fish’s smarts… fetching contradicting literature, calling you names, doxxing your cat.
Then there’s something very deep connected with stupidity… as in 'Ms., the test results of your husband/child have arrived, confirming that, as suspected, he is quite _____ ." [lazy / crabby and uncooperative / stupid] inserting one those options in there is going to create a bit more tension around the house. ‘oh, but you were always a little _____, I love you just the same’.
Probably because neither of those pets express love, kindness, devotion, or a sense of fairness in a manner we can perceive and I think that’s what it’s really about. Dogs and cats have learned to express themselves in a way that simians can understand.
