I imagine that once upon a time a mountain lion casually strolled into some ancient family's hut on a cold winter night and settled down in front of their fire and the entire family was too terrified to shoo it out. After spending the night enjoying the warmth, it probably left on its own and then came back the next night to keep warm, basking happily in front of the flames while the poor family spent yet another sleepless night huddled in fear in a corner, waiting to be mauled to death but too afraid to attack the cat. Eventually someone probably gave it some food and then maybe a child got brave and gave it some ear scritches and it realized that why should it go live a harsh life in the wilderness when it can rule the home and be treated like a god? It then went out and brought back the rest of its family or tribe and that's how cats became "domesticated"
Ah, I knew mountain lion wasn't accurate, but my comment still stands with a sand cat or jungle cat. Not quite as intimidating, but I would still be a little afraid if a raccoon or a badger walked through my door and laid down on my hearth.
Nasty little critters! But then you notice one variety of nasty little critter eats a hell of a lot of mice, which are a much worse scourge... so maybe, like you said, you give it a little space to keep warm in the cold months...
And then before you know it, your descendants are worshipping the furry little manipulators!
Humans are the most political species. Politics is group decision making, and humans have the best group decision making processes. They even have organised structures for passing on knowledge and wisdom, which have ensured that nearly every generation of humans are smarter than the previous.
You know who has just as much raw intelligence as humans, but no politics? Octopuses. Fucking apolitical savages. They're capable of learning so much, I saw a youtube video where an octopus learned to play the piano. And by now he's probably dead, and his knowledge lost. Octopuses aren't political enough to teach each other. That's why they'll never get as much done as humans.
Billionaires are trying to convince you that you don't like politics, so you'll be as easy to control as the apolitical animals are. Do you want to be used for labour value by a smarter animal, like oxen are? If you aspire to apoliticism, you will be!
You know who has just as much raw intelligence as humans, but no politics? Octopuses. Fucking apolitical savages. They’re capable of learning so much, I saw a youtube video where an octopus learned to play the piano. And by now he’s probably dead, and his knowledge lost. Octopuses aren’t political enough to teach each other. That’s why they’ll never get as much done as humans.
... that's fucking sad now that You say it like that.
Humans plant trees they will never feel the shade of, because they're political. Humans get to have a legacy. Humans get to live forever in the memories of those who succeed them. Humans get to enjoy community. Humans get to build something bigger than themselves.
That's what politics is. Politics are a gift. Politics are what separates person from beast. Politics are the joy of being human.
The horse has been kinda shoved out of the way for now. It's good that he's still around though, in case this whole civilization thing goes sideways but doesn't actually kill us all.
35 Comments
DrBob@lemmy.ca · 28 pts · 103d
I'm not sure that cats ever joined. They're just kind of hanging around with their own agenda.
lonefighter@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 103d
I imagine that once upon a time a mountain lion casually strolled into some ancient family's hut on a cold winter night and settled down in front of their fire and the entire family was too terrified to shoo it out. After spending the night enjoying the warmth, it probably left on its own and then came back the next night to keep warm, basking happily in front of the flames while the poor family spent yet another sleepless night huddled in fear in a corner, waiting to be mauled to death but too afraid to attack the cat. Eventually someone probably gave it some food and then maybe a child got brave and gave it some ear scritches and it realized that why should it go live a harsh life in the wilderness when it can rule the home and be treated like a god? It then went out and brought back the rest of its family or tribe and that's how cats became "domesticated"
PugJesus@piefed.social · 12 pts · 103d
Cats are descended from smaller fellows, more like the sand cat and jungle cat than mountain lions.
lonefighter@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 103d
Ah, I knew mountain lion wasn't accurate, but my comment still stands with a sand cat or jungle cat. Not quite as intimidating, but I would still be a little afraid if a raccoon or a badger walked through my door and laid down on my hearth.
PugJesus@piefed.social · 4 pts · 103d
Nasty little critters! But then you notice one variety of nasty little critter eats a hell of a lot of mice, which are a much worse scourge... so maybe, like you said, you give it a little space to keep warm in the cold months...
And then before you know it, your descendants are worshipping the furry little manipulators!
PugJesus@piefed.social · 4 pts · 103d
Sinister!
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 3 pts · 103d
Man: help me, cat. Tell the others I am stuck down this hole.
Cat: curls up and purrs
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 100d
they joined but we didn't invite them, they just saw what we had going on and said "hello i live here now"
saltnotsugar@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 103d
Hey wheat, bro I’ll give you a field and you give me your wheaty goodness.
PugJesus@piefed.social · 31 pts · 103d
EntheoNaut@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 103d
And your ergot
we gtg
iatenine@piefed.social · 13 pts · 103d
I like how we're slowly approaching the need for a c/neolithicmemes as a companion community to rough roman memes
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net · 12 pts · 103d
Humans are the most political species. Politics is group decision making, and humans have the best group decision making processes. They even have organised structures for passing on knowledge and wisdom, which have ensured that nearly every generation of humans are smarter than the previous.
You know who has just as much raw intelligence as humans, but no politics? Octopuses. Fucking apolitical savages. They're capable of learning so much, I saw a youtube video where an octopus learned to play the piano. And by now he's probably dead, and his knowledge lost. Octopuses aren't political enough to teach each other. That's why they'll never get as much done as humans.
Billionaires are trying to convince you that you don't like politics, so you'll be as easy to control as the apolitical animals are. Do you want to be used for labour value by a smarter animal, like oxen are? If you aspire to apoliticism, you will be!
PugJesus@piefed.social · 7 pts · 103d
... that's fucking sad now that You say it like that.
Poor octopus.
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net · 4 pts · 103d
Humans plant trees they will never feel the shade of, because they're political. Humans get to have a legacy. Humans get to live forever in the memories of those who succeed them. Humans get to enjoy community. Humans get to build something bigger than themselves.
That's what politics is. Politics are a gift. Politics are what separates person from beast. Politics are the joy of being human.
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml · 11 pts · 103d
Who drew all these wojak animals
ZJBlank@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 103d
Wojak Horseman
Ziomster44@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 103d
LMAO! Spot on, also a great name for a wojack series.
omgboom@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 103d
A hero that's who
Aibo1@ani.social · 8 pts · 103d
BoJack?
Ziomster44@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 103d
Wojak Horseman.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 103d
Meanwhile hens and cows: "am I a joke to you?"
NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social · 8 pts · 103d
We didn't really team up with them or anything, we just kind of put a fence around them and then started eating their babies.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 103d
They were domesticated and played an important role in our march towards sedentariness.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 103d
Every single great achievement of mankind derives from our ability to cooperate. It sucks that people don’t realize that
thisbenzingring@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 103d
donkey was domesticated before horses
0ops@piefed.zip · 7 pts · 103d
This meme do be lacking ass
Lodespawn@aussie.zone · 6 pts · 103d
Pfft our greatest invention is clearly soap.
Etterra@discuss.online · 4 pts · 103d
The horse has been kinda shoved out of the way for now. It's good that he's still around though, in case this whole civilization thing goes sideways but doesn't actually kill us all.
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 4 pts · 103d
Bread is arguably the big one, though I suppose you need fire for that.
PugJesus@piefed.social · 3 pts · 103d
Bread's not that big, surprisingly! Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic, but it's not a major contributor to the spread and success of civilizations.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 100d
beer, on the other hand..
Granted that's more a contributor to "staying in one place and growing a shitload of wheat", but then that's what most people consider civilization.
hypnicjerk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 103d
bison: "fuck you, hairy pig"
c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io · 3 pts · 103d
@PugJesus truly thunderous stupidity, a species would have to get up very early indeed to beat us at sheer stupidity
fonecokid@c.im · 1 pts · 103d
@PugJesus :bd94: