A startling thing happened when a neural net got to choose its own neurons

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There was a time when purebred dogs were status symbols. Owners would crow about their German Shepherd's or Cocker Spaniel's impeccable pedigrees, sometimes boasting lineages that tread a single line within the same family for many generations.

This attraction to purity was heightened during Hitler's Nazi Germany, when 'contaminated' lineages for German Shepherds were abhorred. However, it was during the Victorian era of the 1800s that people inbred dogs relentlessly to the point where all the breeds we see now -- and their afflictions, such as hip and other joint issues -- are a result of that inbreeding process.

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