So this doesn't really have any bearing on my story. But I got sidetracked while procrastina-- I mean brainstorming.
I'm running my plot about fifty years out from present day. A detective/thriller type plot, nothing hugely ambitious. But I spend a lot of time thinking about how society and technology might evolve.
Then I started pondering the evolutionary path of certain fluffy creature that likes to hang out in my laptop bag. In a world with less and less wilderness, would cuteness become the primary survival trait for cats?
So there's the question. Can a species evolve for cuteness? Can kittens actually get any cuter? What kind of timeframe would be required for those traits to start to show up? And how can I work this into my plot!
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...sleep in a pool of vigilance so bright...
67,775 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 19 24
Well, biologically speaking and, correct me if I'm wrong (I'm just a rocket scientist, not a biologist), kittens didn't evolve to be cute. We evolved to think kittens were cute (mostly so that we didn't eat our young, that is why our brains are hardwired to think babies are adorable even when they are pooping in our hands). I think.
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ML for PA :: Elsewhere
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 19 53
Of course a spiecies can evolve for "cuteness" - at least thats what I learned from every anime show with the saccarinely sweet sidekick pet.
And domestic cat forms now are all controlled by selective human intervention and will continue to be so - but what the particulars of what human society thinks of as "cute" are mutable and will continue to change with fashions.
And then again no. My kitty couldnt possibly become any cuter!
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
39,437 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 20 01
As a note there is a difference between evolving and being bred. We breed cats (not me personally but humans). We can breed them for certain characteristics and this is much faster than boring old evolution. (Make the cute ones have babies, kill the not cute ones.)
Though I do believe there is something to the whole pooping babies theory mentioned earlier....
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32,263 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 20 18
If you truly mean "evolve", then I don't think that would be possible. First off, 50 years is not a whole lot of time by an evolutionary standpoint.
In the wild, natural selection occurs. The male peacocks with the prettiest, shiniest tail feathers are chosen by the females as mate. Thus, they'll produce baby peacocks with pretty feathers.
Humans intervene in this process. Artificial selection would be breeding the "cutest" kitties for even cuter kittens. This is much more likely than natural selection.
Another way you can go is to say the kittens have been genetically modified to be extra cute. (And look--they glow in the dark! ;) )
I love the idea of including cats in your story! I love kitties, but I don't know if I'll be fit any in my Nano...maybe when I start to stall on my plot.
4,874 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 21 22
Exactly. More like no time whatsoever, actually - that's like, five to ten generations of cats. Lostmessenger, I think if you want enhanced-cuteness kittens in your story, genetic engineering or selective breeding are the way to go. Humans have been manipulating animal characteristics to better suit our wants and needs for millennia, so who's to say we won't be creating ultracute pets a couple decades from now?
44,150 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 21 32
Humans are breeding dogs and cats for cuteness now. Look at the Scottish Fold (cat) and shrinking dogs. They're even making Corgis' legs shorter! And I don't see how cats could evolve into anything cuter.
----------Aliens, Animals, and Adventure
42,492 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 22 33
Now that I think about it, I seem to recall an article about cats that had been engineered to be hypoallergenic.
I think the idea of the wealthy having tailored housepets (laws permitted) really isn't farfetched at all, and who wouldn't want their cat to glow in the dark? It would certainly make it easier when they try to sneak under your feet first thing in the morning!
One thing I really haven't thought about in this future world is how genetic engineering figures in, this actually makes a nice jumping off point for discussing it in the book.
Thanks!
----------...sleep in a pool of vigilance so bright...
45,222 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 02 08
Artificial evolution can create "kawai" things :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox
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30,018 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 10 20
Or time travel. Maybe an ultracute kitten from the far future turns up.
0 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 11 21
You could selectively breed the cats into a pygmy breed, like the munchin cats with their short legs or dwarf rabbits. I read a story that included an made up article on pygmy bears and elephants and I've been intrigued by them ever since.
30,237 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 14 27
Evolution's evolution, whether the selection is happening under the claws of predators or at the hands of human breeders.
However, the cuteness of kitten at play is a constant universal maximum, that other creatures can approach but never quite reach, like the speed of light in a vacuum. Breeding cuter kittens is as impossible as faster-than-light travel.
Of course, this is science fiction, so if you want to postulate that CTK creatures are possible, you can do that. But you might run into problems with your audience's willing suspension of disbelief.
42,492 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 16 18
This is genius. Maybe a bit to fluffy for this year's darker toned novel, but I think that there's a whole novel waiting to happen there, about the follies of science attempting to create that which must not be.
----------...sleep in a pool of vigilance so bright...
11,843 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 21 27
The only way kittens could be cuter is if they developed wings!
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2008 - The Ghosts of Who We Were
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 05 39
See here - kittens may have already reached the peak of evolutionary cuteness. At this point any more "cuteness" is just to individual personal whims and taking away from the general overall consensus of cuteness and thus counter to the super-cuteness evolution strategy.
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
44,018 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 06 13
I remember a subplot that got dropped for a previous story, in which a group of scientists genetically engineered cats by introducing the genes of a long-lived alien species into their DNA, resulting in cats which stayed kittens for almost a hundred years. (Unfortunately, this also resulted in cats with psychic powers, details, details... Hyper-intelligent psychic kittens!)
1,339 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 08 37
See also the Simpsons episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian - the family sees a cute little lamb, which is knocked out of the way by a cuter little lamb which is pushed aside by da cutist widdle wamb evah.
----------"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
2009-Brother Monkey, Brother Lion, Sister Crow2009 -Bunnystar Galactica Psychic Bunnies IN SPACE
35,410 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 11 53
1. Cuteness is relative to the viewer. We are hard programmed to think cuteness is fluffiness and big eyes. We tend to think mammals are cute, because humans are vain creatures.
2. Evolution and selective breeding are different things. One can selectively breed for individual definition of cuteness, one probably wouldn't see selective environmental pressure for cuteness. (Unless you go Shriek's Puss in Boots, where cuteness is a button to keep from eating or harassing the animal.)
You could have it so the animal morphs or has an illusion for the person viewing it through pheromones or whatever to view it as cute. That could be a solid defense mechanism because that would prevent the predator from eating it.
Selective breeding can produce a new species with intensive selection probably in 50 years or less. One guy currently has bred a new breed of dog, I believe in 40 years? of selection. But with the fox study, that's clearly 50 years. You can get this from watching Breed All About it on the Animal channel as many times as I have.
For evolution, one has to create a significantly different species that can' t breed with the previous species. That, depending on environmental pressure can take up to 80 years (as documented with some fish) or with humans it took a few thousand years. This really depends on the breeding cycle of the species as well. Humans were slow because we take so damned long to reproduce. Rats, on the other hand would be quicker with the quick rates of birth. Cats are around 4-6 months until sexual maturity.
----------Novelists are a conscienceless lot.--Diana Gabaldon (An Echo in the Bone)
44,150 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2009 - 18 31
Btw, to see kittens with wings, go to a SF convention art show. I've got a small print with a kitten with wings on a windowsill facing a little dragon perched on the outside ledge. Just went to look at it. Yep, that is one cute kitten, and the dragon's cute too. (That's why I bought it.).
----------Aliens, Animals, and Adventure