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<div class="at-above-post-homepage addthis_tool" data-url="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/many-cute-cats-internet-world-driven-cute-excellence-syndrome/"></div><p>Images of cute cats and kittens make up some of the most viewed content on the web. The small felines are so important that the Museum of the Moving Image in New York organized an exhibition entitled <em><a href="http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2015/08/07/detail/how-cats-took-over-the-internet/" onclick="__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2015/08/07/detail/how-cats-took-over-the-internet/', 'How Cats Took over the Internet');">How Cats Took over the Internet</a></em>, and a German journal recently asked to establish an international “cat limit.” A <a href="http://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/06/internet-cat-video-research.shtml" onclick="__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/06/internet-cat-video-research.shtml', 'study by Indiana University');">study by Indiana University</a> found that viewing cat videos “boosts positive emotions and decreases negative feelings.” Through cute images we come to terms with an increasingly abstract and non-intuitive understanding of reality. A Hello Kitty sticker on the fridge makes modern everyday life more bearable. The warm and overwhelmingly cute helps us to live in a world that is increasingly cold, modern, and technical. <a href="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/essays/many-cute-cats-internet-world-driven-cute-excellence-syndrome/#more-6112" class="more-link">Read more</a></p>
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Why Are There So Many Cute Cats on the Internet? The World is Driven by a Cute-Excellence Syndrome

<h4>Thorsten Botz-Bornstein is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. He is the author of Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick, Wong Kar-wai (2007) and has written a number of books on topics ranging from intercultural aesthetics to the philosophy of architecture.</h4>

Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

The Trouble with Excellence

"You always admire what you really don't understand."
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">— Blaise Pascal</p>

Religion

A Place in the Making

"You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to." — Molly Ivins

Politics

Shades of Cool, Degrees of Kawaii

Thorsten Botz-Bornstein is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. He is the author of Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick, Wong Kar-wai (2007) and has written a number of books on topics ranging from intercultural aesthetics to the philosophy of architecture.