[Yudster]

I might eat your goat.

[foot-loose]

You would need to kill him first...

[nade]

I really ought to look up "eat your goat" in the urban dictionary.

[Sunny So Cal]

Sunny - sorry, but I don't agree there is a primal urge not to kill baby animals, I think that is conditioning. If its the big eyes and small noses that make you go 'aahhhh' then I would blame Disney.

You can not agree but it is the current theory running in regards to evolutionary biology. It applies evolutionary reasoning to psychological phenomena. It states that specialized cerebral mechanisms perform modular cognitive functions which produce adaptive products of our evolutionary history. They are designed for very specific adaptive outcomes. Evolutionary biology states that our brains shut down aggressive tendencies when confronted with immature beings. It is fact. You can't argue fact.

I also have a recipe for tablet - what more could I need?

Still waiting for that recipe
*crosses arms and taps foot impatiently*

[foot-loose]

You can not agree but it is the current theory running in regards to evolutionary biology. It applies evolutionary reasoning to psychological phenomena. It states that specialized cerebral mechanisms perform modular cognitive functions which produce adaptive products of our evolutionary history. They are designed for very specific adaptive outcomes. Evolutionary biology states that our brains shut down aggressive tendencies when confronted with immature beings. It is fact. You can't argue fact.

There was a whole thread with me arguing fact!

You used lots of big words there which either means you are making it up (which I doubt) or you know a fair bit about whatever you are babbling about. If whatever it is you are talking about only applies to humans then fair enough, but in 'the wild' - I can't think of another species that would avoid harming the young of another animal. In fact, most preditors deliberatly seek out the young and the infirm to catch and eat.

Personally, if I was stuck on an island with nothing to eat and the only thing I could catch was a cute ickle baby animal - i'd have no problem in sticking it in a sandwich. Although, that raises the question of where I got the bread from.

[Chris]

From a bread monster

[Sunny So Cal]

Ha! I "used a lot of big words" reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean. "We're naught but humble pirates."
Anyhow, it would apply only to human beings. It was a study done in 2005 or 2006. As for animals, they are known to kill their own offspring or offspring of their rivals. They've no problem with the "aaah" factor. A bit like Ladbroke

[foot-loose]

Chris, that looks more like a bread spider than a monster. Lalalalalottie may not understand the difference mind.

Sunny - i'm still not convinced on your point. The idea that we dont want to eat young animals because they are cute sounds a bit odd to me. What about countries that think of animals in a different way to us? Is this a study that only applies to the 'western' world?

[Sunny So Cal]

I'm not a socio-biologist so I can't be certain that people in different parts of the world have specific reduced cognitive functioning in regards to evolutionary psychology? My understanding was it was involuntary and aided in the perpetuation of the species (so cavemen didn't bash their babies over the head). It was not meant to be taken in the way that people don't eat or slaughter young animals. Clearly they do. Merely that it is evolutionary biology that makes us go all warm and fuzzy when confronted with (images of) (immature) beings that have large eyes disproportionate to the the size of their faces. However, having said that, there are also studies out that indicate there is a link between young people that torture animals and those that become serial killers later on in life.

[foot-loose]

It was not meant to be taken in the way that people don't eat or slaughter young animals. Clearly they do.

Ahh - then I may have misunderstood you.

I have no desire to eat babies, regardless of how similar I am to a certain character in the Austin Powers movies.

[Sunny So Cal]

"Get in ma belly!"

[S4B]

I regret starting this thread now

[MK Chris]

there are also studies out that indicate there is a link between young people that torture animals and those that become serial killers later on in life.

There possibly is because things escalate in all walks of life. Obviously not everyone who tortures animals is a future serial killer, but the potential is very real.