Why are we genetically programmed to find animals so cute? I would think as an omnivore finding your food cute would be counterproductive.

My hypothesis is that we are supposed to eat meat as a last resort and prefer vegetables. So their cuteness acts as a deterrent so we prefer them less...

Though the fact that meat tastes so good would seem to be a counterargument to that theory...

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@freemo I suspect it's just coincidence. We're genetically programmed to find at least human babies cute (um, once they've stopped looking like gremlins, I guess), and I wouldn't be surprised if as an evolutionary hold-over from when we were all the things before humans that evolution finds it much easier to specify "find anything that looks young cute" over being species-specific for humanity.

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