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Jared Diamond spent a big chunk of time on "taming" vs. "domesticating" where "taming" is taking a wild animal and making it not hate you, while "domesticating" is taking a wild animal and making its children's children's children not hate you. The Egyptians tamed cheetahs but never domesticated them; he pointed out that dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years while foxes have met only limited success and that only recently. Michael Pollan would probably argue that cats domesticated us rather than the other way 'round, since he argued that the dominant species on earth is maize and we've stopped at nothing to ensure its spread around the world. Cats do a lot less to earn their keep than corn does.