23 February 2009

Big Heads makes for Good Looking Babies

The Science in this is all rather self evident; the basic question is why do we find 'cute' things 'cute.' The video argues, in a rather cute way, that we misplace the biological imperative to like our own species' young upon the features which the young have: (this is called Pedomorphosis.) It goes on to argues that the features the young have they have for other reasons than just cuteness (big heads = big brains, baby fat = insulation, etc.) and while that can generally be inferred it cannot always be; the causal relationships can be confusing here: we may have accentuated features as children precisely so that we are not subject to infanticide - that is to say that cuter children probably aren't the ones you kill and eat if you're super cold and hungry. "Nature, red in tooth and claw" as the Evolutionists are fond of saying. (I found this on Popular Science.)