For me, the reasons for why we own pets came from utilitarian and symbiotic reasons. Dogs were domesticated wolves used for hunting and defense, while cats were autonomous pest control. But I really don't get why people "love" pets. They go retarded for them. So much that some would buy them mansions. I've heard others say that pets are better than people. We have the Crazy Cat Lady stereotype. If there is dogshit in the middle of the road and I accidentally step on it I get furious but everyone sides with the dog.
I just don't get it. Any scientific explanations?
No person has ever woken me up every morning with cuddles and licks whilst purring at over 90dB.
Animals are beautiul, personable, skillful, simpler, often smell better and are quieter and more peaceful, gracious and loving than humans.
>dinasour says "look at those degenerate mamals having to waste so much energy carring their babies around with them while i can just put some eggs under the sand and be done with it"
mamals with pets or "furries" are are not just a degeneration
thy are the next step in evolution
they have so much more energy than common mamals that a new mutation has occurered to let them use that excess of energy in bonding with another species
dinasours->mamals->mamalswithpets->?
Pet fluffy and soft. Pet give me hugs when I feel sad. Pet make me feel better. Pet my friend. Me care for Pet. Me love Pet.
I only keep fish as pets.
Fuck dogs and fuck cats too.
psychologist/neuroscientist reporting in
the data is pretty clear
Pet owners are psychopaths/assholes/selfish.
Normal human:human relations don't allow abuse or one way.
human:pet is one way unconditional/controlled by food etc.
Most people who own pets do so so that they can behave psychopathically with humans as their pets fill their human emotional need.
>human:pet is one way unconditional/controlled by food
Then why do I love the cat on the way to the grocery store whom I've never fed
>muh toxoplasmosis
Then why do I love the pups on the way there too who are very good bois
Social scientist here.
the data is pretty clear
psychologists/neuroscientists are massive gays who were on average buttraped by every male member of their family
So the reason i give food to stray cats is not to prevent their hunger but to control them?
those animals don't have real emotions like humans do, but we've bred them to be able to mimic those emotions.
so losers/psychos use them instead of interacting with humans.
The cat doesn't understand that you're a pedofile or have ripped off everyone you've done business with, it will still curl in your lap.
It's like porn /dildo users.
You can get fat, be a piece of shit/loser and the porn will always "have sex" with you.
but it's an imitation.
>animals don't have emotions
And I'm the psychopath?
Do these faces have emotions?
Do they experience them like you do?
Images do not have a nervous system
Emotions are a state of the nervous system
Animals such as cats and dogs have a nervous system very similar to humans
In fact we can measure a human's brain state while experiencing emotions, measure an animal's brain state, and observe exactly the same patterns as the human's when experiencing emotion
If you don't think animals have emotions, you are essentially asserting that emotions are not actually states of the nervous system, that actually they're some magical, nebulous, spooky qualia that can only possibly ever be understood by humans because humans have some magical property that makes them different from all other animals, maybe you can sell this to retarded normies who believe in souls but it has no place on a science board
>Animals such as cats and dogs have a nervous system very similar to humans
I'm literally a neuroscientist, what you're saying is laughable
they do not have a similar brain at all
Thanks for proving my point.
I'm literally your mom and you should stop shitposting and clean your goddamn room
Don't care, my cats are happy when they see me and I love to play with them and give them nice experiences and they jump onto my bed to snuggle with me for no well-defined external reward.
Anthropic bias and its consequences have been a disaster for life on Earth.
Cope.
create a chatbot to send you emoticons every 30mins or so slightly randomized with cute messages about how you're awesome and really well loved.
No that's fine, I'll pet a thinking feeling cat for mutual benefit instead
how do you know its thinking
He dreams when he sleeps
>how do you know its thinking
I don't know if pets experience love or feelings the same way humans do, but they do release oxytocin when they're cuddled by their owners. Studies confirm this. The claim that it's a completely one-sided relationship based on food is a silly one. Being with our pets makes us feel good, and it makes them feel good as well (or can, obviously not all owners and pets have a great relationship). It's not purely food driven. This same kind of bullshit psychology is applied by idiots who like to think that all women are only with men for financial support. Just because it happens sometimes doesn't mean it's always the case, or that feelings aren't reciprocated.
Psychopaths have a hard time telling aart living from non living things. Its a feature of their brain damage. You for example cant tell apart an emoji picture from a living being, its expected.
Industrial society and its consequences have been disastrous for the human race's feelings of connectedness, social belonging, and well-being.
Your brain is wired due to hundreds of thousands of years of evolution favoring tight-knit, loyal communities of hunter-gatherers to need the support of a small group of people larger than a nuclear family but smaller than any modern settlement to form bonds of attachment and camaraderie to share in the journey of life
Few have this, for some the gap can be filled by an overly large nuclear family, or by a very large number of sexual partners, or a group of friends who share the same cultural consumption preferences, for others it is a pet or pets
The environment we live in is highly unnatural and unhealthy, many people develop an unhealthy attachment to their pets as well, as social media, online culture, and societal divisions push them more into social isolation from other people they use their pets not just to fill in the gap of the primal need for a community but as a substitute for any human contact whatsoever.
It is perhaps an imitation of higher human emotions, those who develop an unhealthy dependence on their pets as a substitute for social contact do tend to anthropomorphize them and attribute a bunch of soft-feely bullshit to them.
But still, affection is a clearly visible trait that you can observe even in a simple minded animal, physical contact with another being is a primal need and there is nothing fake about the pet showing affection and providing warmth and touch.
You may say, well the affection isn't genuine because the pet only shows affection because you give it food, but you can just as easily say that the affection you feel in a relationship with a woman isn't genuine either because she only shows affection because you give her money, shelter, social status, and dick.
There's something wrong with you, and you seem to be transferring your feelings onto others. Yes, some people who own pets struggle with human interaction. There's plenty of pet owners who do just fine with people as well. You also spelled pedophile incorrectly.
Hi, René.
>psychologist/neuroscientist
[X] Doubt.
>psychologist/neuroscientist
press X to doubt
This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.
I love anyone I make love to, it doesn't matter if they're human or not
>For me, the reasons for why we own pets came from utilitarian
Most things we do have nothing to do with being utilitarian. People are irrational and thats all there is to it
>But I really don't get why people "love" pets.
Seems to be a result in our ability to feel empathy beyond oneself.
Animals at best care about their kin. To build a civilisation you need to care about people you are not related to. And by extension we also care bout animals and more abstract things such as nature.
Notice that clan based cultures tend not to build stable civilisations.
Something something behavior we got from genetics, yadda yadda led us to domesticating food animals, stuff and things, evolutionary advantage, sex with animals is in our DNA.
>If there is dogshit in the middle of the road and I accidentally step on it I get furious but everyone sides with the dog.
That's the owner's fault, not the dog's.
Cat people are crazy from the toxoplasmosis.
Dog people are normal people, the thing there is that the dog as a species has hijacked our human bonding system - oxytocin production - and uses it to be part of our family. The dogs run the same way, they love their humans just as much as the humans love their dogs. It would be interesting to see if packs of feral dogs produce oxytocin for each other, and if packs of wild wolves do. Seeing captive wolves with their humans makes me think they do make it, though I admit the only dog/wolf contrasting study I've seen was the one where the researchers let them try to get some impossible food, and the dogs asked a human for help while the wolves did not.
>Cat people are crazy from the toxoplasmosis.
You have it too, dog boy.
So it's like a story wherein you initially buy a robot to serve you, but in the end you end up falling in love with the robot while the robot also falls in love with you
>Cat people are crazy from the toxoplasmosis.
yeah I kinda agree with this but we can keep the crazy in check, except weaklings.
There are also other differences between dogs and wolves. For instance, if you point at something, a dog will look at what you point at, while the wolf will look at our hand.
dogs don't "produce oxytocin for us"
touching them causes your body to release oxytocin into your bloodstream, similarly to human touch
many breeds have, however, developed stronger facial muscles and expressions specifically for humans
some of this is likely due to selective breeding