<![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I love lolcats, so I created a site that allows you to translate any website into lolcat. It's a work in progress, so let me know if you have any suggestions.

kezzas2

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @JennaW: Srsly.

Rooo sez BISH PLZ

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> At last! An explanation of why people put sunglasses on their dogs.Now I finally can sleep at night again!

Taters

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> And people wonder why I studied cognitive science in college...!

Now, where's the study that explains why cat macros are so much funnier than dog macros?

ceciliatan

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> finally i can haz proof for my employers that lolcat addiction is not my fault!

doctor paradox

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Lolruses FTW! Walruses are inherently more funny than cats. Of course, people generally don't bother with pet walruses (walri?).

MrLister

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> These never ever get old. I laugh at them all the time, even ones I've seen before. Makes me want to get a cat so i can make my own.

radink360

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Oh god, Clovercat came out of nowhere. I was this close to scaring the hell out of my coworkers with a huge laugh.

StrikerObi

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I love cats... those mods are amazing!! look at this mod and let me know your opinion, please: www.amazingmods.com

martinpisto

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> If you liked this, check out www.stuffonmycat.com

da5id_nz

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I am soooo tired of "LOLcats"!

Two or three years ago, when these were just Caturday pictures on 4chan, they were funny. Then they started getting old. Now a bunch of people have re-discovered them, but they're way past their prime.

Just sayin'!

urukhaifive

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @tetracycloide: Making people put down the cell phone and the beer would be a more effective safety measure than having our cars look like predators. But maybe it could be helpful in keeping my nephew from putting leggos in my DVD/ROM drive!

joneez

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @strider_mt2k: BUZZKILL!

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> There is something majorly creepy about adults doing the equivalent of baby talk.

Just sayin'

strider_mt2k

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> LOLcats are teh awesum! Other than the classic ICHC, my fave is the artistic interpretations provided by Hobotopia.com (no connection with me other than I am a satisfied customer/supporter).

Yes, we have bred kitties (and doggies) to retain juvenile characteristics, which is why we wuv them. However, knowing the typical cat behavior (see my SN), I'm pretty sure the cats are just using us as slaves.

This does help explain why the LOLcat meme/fad has lasted so long. Edumacashunul.

Evil Tortie's Mom

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @omg-ponies: Reel laif? DO NOT WANT!

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Reel cats > lolcats cuz reel cats does fings in reel laif

OMG! Ponies!

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Instead of "natural selection made us like cats" how about "artificial selection made cats we would like"?

Imipolex_G-Unit

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> //to being a cute kitty with special attributes created by the caption.//
That one line is full of win on some many levels.

And to think, we were able to get lolcatz on lifehacker, the anti-time killer :D

cde

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Furst impreshunz on i09z

Eac_o_System

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Groan. I think posts like this show why evolutionary biologists hate the popular press reporting their work. It's not that this explanation is implausible, just that it's too speculative given the evidence.

OK, let's accept that humans are predisposed towards devoting attention to animals over inanimate objects. That doesn't explain anything about Lolcats in particular - the cats, the captions, the anthropomorphizing, the poor grammar, the jokes.

As far as this study shows, people should be just as interested in looking at non-captioned pictures of any animal our species has dealt with in the past, or - *gasp* - pictures of people!

If you really want some relevant info, get into the psych work on why humans have humor in the first place, the coevolution of humans and pets, and our bias toward neoteny.

axelate

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I've heard it said that domesticated animals tend to retain a lot of the features of the premature wild animals they're related to. Meaning adult house cats look a lot like baby lions or something. I wonder if that triggers the same cute-loving part of our brain that keeps (most) of us from killing our babies when we find out what a pain in the ass they are to take care of.

frankadelic

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> funny, all this time i thought i was going insane.... so now its just human nature to look at cats all day?

BlueScreen

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I'd like to see a study that shows how the human brain distinguishes animal forms from other objects and if it is possible to trick the human brain into thinking somehting is an animal when it isn't. If we were able to penpoint exactly what it is that triggers this heightened observation then we could build that into our vehicle design and potentially reduce the incidence of collisions.

tetracycloide

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @FrankenPC: And I always thought it was lack of proper seasonning...

Guizzy

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Dude, hadn't seen the Cloverfield LOLcat yet. That's awesome.

Snakeophelia

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Cloverfield spoiler cat says Look heer:
[mine.icanhascheezburger.com]

QMech

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> We needed a study to tell us we evolved a mechanism to watch animals but not cars and Macs?

sumocat

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @demonwolf: I cannot stop looking at Dunecat. Damn evolution!

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> I would imagine it has something to do with the built in cuddly factor. We are attracted to things which looke cute and cuddly. It's what keeps us from eating our young.

FrankenPC

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> dude dunecat nearly killed me, epic

demonwolf

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> Heh. Dune kitty.

ceriphim

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> @collinxvii:
I would say it's the empathy part of our brain. After all, don't we all wish we could haz cheezburger?

moncapitaine

]]> <![CDATA[Evolution Explains Why Lolcats Control Your Mind]]> "I really want to see a study that specifically looks at what happens to our brains while looking at pictures of lolcats to see exactly what part of the brain lights up when I can haz a cheezburger." Agreed. Something happens to our brains, that I would really like to see explained.

papercup mixmaster

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