[hwbehrens]

This is a "modest proposal" for sure. No legitimate thrust toward domestication would cherry pick such an esoteric example as "threading wires in automobile manufacturing facilities".

Take the (very real) fox domestication as a counterexample -- the topline takeaway is about how cute and cuddly they became. A smart and cuddly pet would be a believable pitch, but a helpful, even productive "human assistant" is far less so.

With that said, there are raccoon breeders out there (according to Google), so this proposal might be 25-50 years too early, eventually ending up like chinchillas or other small, exotic mammals.

[swagmoney1606]

It's absolutely 1000% satire, and yet I can see someone like Elon loving this idea:

>Labor: Their manual dexterity could be utilized in commercial labor contexts. In the early 20th century, an enterprising businessman even trained raccoons to perform chimney sweeps (Washington Post, 1906).

Bruh let's just let animals live in their natural environment without subjecting them to the torment-nexus that would be the raccoon-factory

[fragmede]

Where animals have been domesticated and trained to do economically productive tasks, we've stopped the practice under the guise of preventing animal cruelty. using elephants or monkeys to do work evokes strong emotions in a ways that making humans doing the same job doesn't, so we've decided treating people that way is okay but not animals.