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DanielLC comments on "Stupid" questions thread - Less Wrong Discussion

40 Post author: gothgirl420666 13 July 2013 02:42AM

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Comment author: Adele_L 14 July 2013 03:43:27AM 10 points [-]

This will prevent tiger extinction in the same way it prevented cow extinction,

There are lots of reasons why farming cows is significantly easier than farming tigers.

Comment author: DanielLC 14 July 2013 04:52:59AM 2 points [-]

Tiger meat would be much more expensive than beef, but there's still enough of a market for it to keep tigers from going extinct.

Comment author: OphilaDros 14 July 2013 04:31:39PM *  2 points [-]

Not all animals can be domesticated for meat production. Jared Diamond discusses the question in "Guns, Germs and Steel". He calls it the Anna Karenina principle, and some of the factors influencing this are:

  • Growth rate of the species
  • Breeding habits - do they tend to breed well in closed spaces
  • Nasty disposition
  • Social structure
Comment author: gwern 14 July 2013 04:44:41PM 2 points [-]

All of those just increase the cost; certainly they can make things infeasible for hunter-gatherers with per capita incomes of maybe $300 a year generously. But they are of little interest to people with per capitas closer to $30,000 and who are willing to pay for tiger meat.

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