on chimera identity. (edit: status: received some interesting objections from an otherkin server. most importantly, i’d need to explain how this can be true despite humans evolving a lot more from species in their recent lineage. i think this might be possible with something like convergent evolution at a lower level, but at this stage in processing i don’t have concrete speculation about that)
this is inspired by seeing how meta-optimization processes can morph one thing into other things. examples: a selection process running on a neural net, an image diffusion AI iteratively changing an image and repurposing aspects of it.
(1) humans are made of animal genes (2) so it makes sense that some are ‘otherkin’ / have animal identity (3) probably everyone has some latent animal behavior (4) in this way, everyone is a ‘chimera’ (5) all species are a particular space of chimera, not fundamentally separate
that’s the ‘message to a friend who will understand’ version. attempt at rigor version:
humans evolved from other species. human neural structure was adapted from other neural structure.
this selection was for survival, not for different species being dichotomous
this helps explain why some are ‘otherkin’ / have animal identity, or prefer a furry humanoid to the default one (on any number of axes like identification with it, aesthetic preference, attraction). because they were evolved from beings who had those traits, and such feelings/intuitions/whatever weren’t very selected against.
in this way, everyone is a ‘chimera’
“in greek mythology, the chimera was a fire-breathing hybrid creature composed of different animal parts”
probably everyone has some latent behavior (neuro/psychology underlying behavior) that’s usually not active and might be more associated with a state another species might more often be in.
all species are a particular space of chimera, not fundamentally separate
maybe i made errors in wording, some version of this is just trivially-true, close to just being a rephrasing of the theory of natural selection. but it’s at odds with how i usually see others thinking about humans and animals (or species and other species), as these fundamentally separate types of being.
on chimera identity. (edit: status: received some interesting objections from an otherkin server. most importantly, i’d need to explain how this can be true despite humans evolving a lot more from species in their recent lineage. i think this might be possible with something like convergent evolution at a lower level, but at this stage in processing i don’t have concrete speculation about that)
this is inspired by seeing how meta-optimization processes can morph one thing into other things. examples: a selection process running on a neural net, an image diffusion AI iteratively changing an image and repurposing aspects of it.
that’s the ‘message to a friend who will understand’ version. attempt at rigor version:
humans evolved from other species. human neural structure was adapted from other neural structure.
this selection was for survival, not for different species being dichotomous
this helps explain why some are ‘otherkin’ / have animal identity, or prefer a furry humanoid to the default one (on any number of axes like identification with it, aesthetic preference, attraction). because they were evolved from beings who had those traits, and such feelings/intuitions/whatever weren’t very selected against.
in this way, everyone is a ‘chimera’
“in greek mythology, the chimera was a fire-breathing hybrid creature composed of different animal parts”
probably everyone has some latent behavior (neuro/psychology underlying behavior) that’s usually not active and might be more associated with a state another species might more often be in.
all species are a particular space of chimera, not fundamentally separate
maybe i made errors in wording, some version of this is just trivially-true, close to just being a rephrasing of the theory of natural selection. but it’s at odds with how i usually see others thinking about humans and animals (or species and other species), as these fundamentally separate types of being.
That argument doesn’t explain things like:
furry avatars are almost always cartoon versions of animals, not realistic ones
furries didn’t exist until anthropomorphic cartoon animals became popular (and no, “spirit animals” are not similar)
suddenly ponies became more popular in that sense after a popular cartoon with ponies came out
It’s just Disney and cartoons.