Domestication

This article explains something I've long suspected.

The oldest domesticated animal is: Man.

Domestication syndrome is, in animals, a series of physical changes that are related to distinct changes in neural cell migration. These changes reduce fear and improve the desire to cooperate. For example, the first person to ride a horse was almost certainly also the first person to fall off a horse. Through breeding for these neural change migrations we bred horses who had enough of a desire to cooperate that they don't mind carrying us around. (With a few exceptions that generally end up working at rodeos).

Side effects of domestication syndrome include floppy ears (There are very few floppy eared horses due to the negative impact on their social lives and floppy ears in cats are associated with cartilage disorders), patched coats, and neoteny - childhood features surviving into adulthood.

By mapping the genes involved in domestication syndrome we've discovered that...yup. Modern humans have domestication syndrome.

We've domesticated ourselves.

We've selected for higher levels of cooperation, for reduced fear of the other (although not enough, yet). And the side effects appear to be things like smaller teeth, our lack of brow ridges, and both physical and mental neoteny.

Oh, and still being here, unlike the "wild" Neanderthals and Denosivans. (It was most likely our diseases, but did domestication play a role?).

Being domesticated allows us to live together in cities, it allows us to cooperate on huge projects from the pyramids to the space race to...what comes next.

So, it's not really a bad thing.

Not at all.