Category: Epistemology and Method

–“Domestication isn’t defined the way you just defined it.”–

As socrates said “define your terms”. A term must only be consistent with the use as the speaker defines it. We can use “Domestication” (reproductive selection) or the more unpleasant term “Genetic Pacification” (law, war). The truth is that we use both Domestication and Genetic Pacification. And the unpleasant truth is that

Different fields use the same terms differently. Colloquial speaking people conflate them because they lack the specialized knowledge of those fields. A common series I deal with daily is {reason, rationalism, and logic}.

So, in science, domestication of plants, animals, and man, refers to the same process: making useful (cooperative) with man, by breeding favorable traits and unfavorable traits. At present our understanding is driven by Soviet Scientist Dmitry Belyaev, and his demonstration that foxes could be domesticated in under ten generations.

When we study this process what do we find? We find that we are breeding for the extension of youth, where plants grow, and animals grow, but neither achieves early or FULL maturity. In animals this reduces the impulse to fight, so that the brain can continue to develop.

What does it develop instead of impulse? It maintains the socialization of youth, and gains agency over the self (consciousness, patience, and conscientiousness).

So we are using the term as it is used in science. Humans domesticated themselves, plants, and animals – and some of us domesticated other peoples (and frankly are still trying but failing to do so).