On cuteness – Miranda France in TLS:

‘(The first iPhone failed in Japan when it was launched there in 2008 because there was no way to send emojis in text messages; Apple quickly learnt.)’

(…)

‘Humans are, in fact, hardwired to respond to cuteness. It’s long been accepted that babies have to be appealing in order to make adults take care of them. In 1943 the Austrian biologist Konrad Lorenz observed that certain animals, especially baby ones, provoked that same caring impulse in adult humans. Particularly attractive characteristics were an oversized head, large eyes, bulging cheeks and “a soft body with a springing elastic consistency and clumsy, wobbly movements”. Lorenz reckoned that our response to this combination of lovable traits is compulsive to the point of being “virtually irrepressible”. Neanderthals went as far as dying out, he suggested, because they found Homo sapiens “cuter” than their own species.’

(…)

‘A female preference for “calmer, more tolerant mates” means that “highly aggressive adults were gradually weeded out of the gene pool”. If this is true, women clearly have more weeding to do.’

(…)

‘Disney didn’t immediately hit on the formula for cute: in his first appearance, in 1928, Mickey Mouse was more roguish than lovable. (He was partly modelled on Buster Keaton.) After parents wrote in complaining about his bad manners, Disney agreed to reform the character.’

(…)

‘ At least until we reach the care home, that is, where an army of huggable robots awaits, with enormous eyes and a menu of entertainment options. The cuddly LOVOT (“born for just one reason – to be loved by you”), with features not dissimilar to Hello Kitty’s, currently retails at about £2,500.’

Read the article here.
Buster Keaton is many things, but cute is not the word indeed.

So, the civilization process is merely just a female preference for ‘calmer, more tolerant mates’. The gene pool did what it had to do. It got rid of the less calm mates, well, most of them.

So now we know why humans become extinct.

Often, I walk with my girlfriend’s dog, a dachshund, and my son. Most people respond with ‘ah’ and ‘oh’, but not because of my son, who is the cutest in the world, but because of my girlfriend’s dog, who is merely a walking sausage. We will follow in the footsteps of the Neanderthals.

No reason for unhappiness. We had a nice run.