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Old 07/25/2007, 05:42 PM
Kalkbreath Kalkbreath is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Marietta, GA
Posts: 311
Most of human domestication is from simply selecting those we find appealing.
"Monstrosities" as Darwin called them sometimes strike our human fancy.
Selecting those monsters we like and helping them to carry on is the mainstay of human domestication of species.
Wheat with seed stalks which dont fall off as we carry them to the barn end up in a seed bag instead of on the ground.
The seed in the bags is used to sow the next seasons crop.
There was no premeditated manipulation in this event.

Thats no different then clams which fail to keep their color and adapt to the captive conditions fade or die and whos empty shells are tossed on the ground.
Then when its time to spawn the remaining clams next Spring, the clams still alive and the ones with the best color are selected to seed the next batch.

Its no different then how most plants were domesticated prior to 1900s.... human selection instead of mother nature went on for thousands of years.

Cows with bigger utters and smaller horns are selected by the farmer to breed and continue that trait.

Humans had already Domesticated wild life by "selecting" long before they had the ability to manipulate the genes.

Maybe we should back up .... I would be interested in your take on which of the tens of thousands of domestic plants would pass your litmus test.

(Also I wish more people would join the fun and voice their opinions)