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On the topic of ergonomics, I’ve found myself drawn to creatures exhibiting similar traits. The Petco hamster, the Desert rain frog, the glorious pufferfish— what do they all have in common? They are round. And stupid. How did they get this far into evolution? Domesticity increases chances for survival, but some of these creatures still lack in that department; hamsters run over their newborns possessed by the wheel, rain frogs fail to catch crickets quite literally fed to them on a silver spoon. Pufferfish have that mouth-breathing fluoride stare, but at least their defenses permit them to survive in the wild. This is not slander; this is admiration for evolution and distortion. “Cuteness” is a quiet biological weapon, the world’s greatest survival mechanism, and these creatures are prime living proof. Human interference is inevitable because of our insurmountable(?) god complex, but this guarantees legacy; as Sianne Ngai states, “in its exaggerated passivity and vulnerability, the cute object is as often intended to excite a consumer’s sadistic desires for mastery and control as much as his or her desire to cuddle” (The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde). I guess I just have control issues.
Feb 18, 2026