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SilasBarta comments on Babies and Bunnies: A Caution About Evo-Psych - Less Wrong
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Yikes. Didn't see the LW poll results. I just remember the initial comments on this discussion, where pretty much everyone was saying the baby is cuter, and getting modded up.
Very, very strange.
Selection bias. Those of us (including myself) who agreed with Alicorn probably didn't feel a need to reply just to signal their agreement.
We could just as easily imagine the selection bias having worked the other way (LessWrongers are hardly a representative sample and some have motivated reasons for choosing one way or another, especially having read through the thread), but you're of course right that, in any case, this sample isn't telling us much.
I thought the baby was cuter... but why bother voting in a meaningless poll like this? (No offense :P)
People that find human infants cuter than rabbit, dog, or cat infants isn't a direct contradiction of the hypothesis, as humans would be particularly likely to find human infants cute (just as dogs are particularly likely to be protective and nurturing to puppies).
The point is that animals with large litters are particularly likely to have cute infants other things (like degree of genetic closeness) equal, and that large litter animals would be sufficiently cute to overcome the fact that we're not related. Of course, domestic puppies and kittens have an advantage over wild animals, as much selection was based on human popularity.
Thus, the question is whether you find say Infant Elephants as cute as infant (wild) rabbits or Wolf Puppies.
The baby elephants I saw on safari recently were pretty cute: