I agree that to me the more important thing is finding the cure for cancer is more important than the per se humane treatment of rats but if one of the more domesticated species i.e. dogs/cats is one day discovered to be useful in the cure will we abandon our loyalty to them?

I like the comparison of achievement and destructiveness because it makes me wonder whether given time the rats can evolve the negative destructive characteristics out of their natural habits?

I also identified with and enjoyed the link between cultural and domestication but had similar troubles getting through the material because I felt it wasn’t written in the easiest format. I think it is especially important today to always try and be future oriented and try to best predict the consequences of our decisions today.

I am also hesitant to say it was a mutual relationship as well just because of how much we have altered their lives in comparison to ours.

I also felt under prepared in relation to all of the historical and geographical references in the novel but I think class discussion will help that. Although it may be a little off topic I would love to hear about the nature of dreams and how it relates to this topic. It’s so interesting to see what people pull from each reading based on their backgrounds and majors.

I also liked the parallel between the Soviet era and the method of domestication. Most of the other excerpts we have read have been the capitalist system and how this has altered the domestication process but the Communist perspective was an interesting change. I have yet to see Frozen so I don’t understand the reference but from reading the novel I agree that reindeer seem like the perfect animal for domestication and don’t see why it didn’t catch on in other areas as well.

I like the idea of the “mutual relationship” he talks about. I felt like the goats were really a part of his family by the end and that he truly cared about their well being and safety. This is why he was so proactive about getting rid of the coyotes and called the doctors at first sight of trouble.

I liked that you wanted to go out and try goat cheese because I had pretty much the same reaction. I also really wanted to try that cappachinno drink he mentioned in an earlier chapter with goat’s milk. It was a really interesting book about an animal I had never really studied before.

I think that is a really interesting way to see the dependence we have on technology these days. While our brains have decreased we as a society continue to make breakthroughs everyday in science which is attributed to the technological era. I don’t encourage over dependency on technology because it does have negative effects but it is a incredibly beneficial resource and has helped human progress.

Since I have little background in any of this information I often too easily believe the theories we read about. It is nice to see someone who can critically examine the readings and make me realize that maybe I shouldn’t ingest it all too quickly. I like the idea of gene therapy as a weight loss program because of the high need for it today. We have become a very overweight population and people want an option to easily fix it.