Comment by XHaukeX on Babies and Bunnies: A Caution About Evo-Psych · 2010-02-28T14:12:39.018Z · LW · GW

@Alicorn: I think there is a problem with the reasoning in your blog post. I think that, many people find bunnies cute, because they are very satiated most of the time- which is perhaps a bit unnatural and not a similar state to those during which humans evolved. Someone who is truly hungry and goes without food for a couple of days (or even remembers a time when this happened) will eat that 'cute' bunny raw if no better food source is available. In fact, many mammals eat their own offspring when they starve and humans also practice infanticide in some cases. However, during times when there is enough food it is likely that finding your baby cute is evolutionarily advantageous. Not all animal responses are fixed or rigid behavior to outside stimuli- some responses vary dramatically as a function of the internal states of the animal.