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Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 26, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So I watched a tiktok about increased neoteny due to the domestication of humans and how it parallells the domestication of animals. The guy in the tiktok was arguing that an increasing number of males today are not physiologically male because they haven't been stressed enough. He notes that on a trip to Disneyland his school filled with affluent and comfy kids looked much younger compared to the poorer and more stressed out inner city kids.

My question is how come this never happened to me? I grew up in the city surrounded by crime, always stressed about being robbed, murdered etc. School was somewhat similar. Yet I still have a baby face.

The Goodness Paradox is a great book about the domestication of humans. It didn't say anything about stress causing less neoteny. And quite frankly I'd think less neoteny would be a bad thing- it might make you more handsome, sure, but it'll also make you more violent and worse at living in our very domesticated modern world.

Being Andrew Tate style alpha male is a very appealing fantasy at first glance, but given that Andrew Tate being that type of alpha male ended him up in Romanian prison, I don't think it's actually something to aspire towards.