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Will humans keep getting taller?

bbc.com

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Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#41

Post by davnn »

selectron wrote: post #7
FilterSweep wrote: post #2

As an extremely "average" height guy, height has been one "human variable" that has always confused me - anecdote after anecdote after anecdote from both proclamations from women, professional sports, and more importantly, our(Western) culture in general have made height seem to be the most important physical trait in a male; yet this article, along with actual research have time and time again either demonstrated th…

There is pretty conclusive evidence that taller men are on average more attractive than shorter men. However being more attractive does not necessarily mean you will have more kids. My theory is that people want to marry people of similar attractiveness, so if for very attractive people the pool of potential matches could actually be smaller, in part because attractive people are more choosy. Also in terms of evoluti…

From the article: In fact, from a pure Darwinian perspective of fitter organisms producing more offspring, the opposite is happening with modern Homo sapiens. Impoverished, less healthy, and thus typically shorter families tend to have more children than prosperous families.

Everybody knows it, but it's pretty crazy when you think about it. However with a generally increasing standard of living that factor should still get smaller and smaller and the people thus taller and taller.

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#43

Post by dpark »

pizza wrote: post #36
dpark wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. The first link from the parent already provided citations for all of the factual claims I made.

Fair enough, thanks.

No problem. It's legitimate to ask for citations in the face of "common knowledge" claims. I should have initially called out that the parent's own citation supported and provided deeper citations for my claims.

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#44

Post by vacri »

personjerry wrote: post #40
dkbrk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ignore that it's entirely possible to have an infinite, monotonically increasing sequence with a fixed upper bound. Yes, people could keep getting taller without ever exceeding some defined limit. However we would begin to encounter problems as the sequence of heights approached said limit. The deltas would become smaller than the precision of our equipment, and later would become smaller than physically meaningf…

Forgive me if I've misunderstood, but isn't your proposed problem akin to Zeno's paradox of infinite distance, where we never reach anywhere because first we need to go 1/2 the distance, then 1/2 of that, etc.? Which, of course, is resolved in math by limits, and in the real world by discrete units (i.e. atoms).

Zeno's paradox also conveniently ignores that the time chunks are getting smaller alongside the distance chunks.

An item going at 1m/s will cover half a meter in half a second, and still have half a meter to go. Then after another quarter of a meter, it still has a quarter of a meter to go... but now only a quarter of a second has passed. If you keep on making the time units smaller, then of course it will 'never arrive'. It's not much of a paradox if you take a time-based characteristic and then don't give it enough time to occur :)

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#46

Post by paulmd »

pklausler wrote: post #21

No. A human being 4.12E+12 meters tall, standing on the equator, would have their head moving at the speed of light due to the rotation of the earth. At that point, their experience of time would essentially stop, and reproduction would cease. Also, cosmic rays and lack of O2 would begin to distract the subject from reproduction with cumulative effects from suffocation and radiation burns long before evolution could…

Also, there is a finite limit to the signal delay that can be reasonably endured. Neuron signals travel at around 50 M/s. The giraffe probably represents the evolutionary limit of how far the brain can be from the feet before you start stumbling and falling over. This is a rather interesting post on some of the potential mechanisms of giraffe balance.

http://psychsciencenotes.blogspot.com/2013/08/why-dont-giraf...

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#47

Post by teraformer » 

  2004 study found that for 
  each extra inch of height 
  above average, someone could 
  expect to earn per working 
  year of his or her life up 
  to $789 more (about $976 in
  today's money)
The disturbing statistic there is that in 2004, whatever you could get with $789, now you need $976 to do the same thing.

Kind of terrifying.

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#48

Post by tlb »

khc wrote: post #35
dkbrk wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You ignore that it's entirely possible to have an infinite, monotonically increasing sequence with a fixed upper bound. Yes, people could keep getting taller without ever exceeding some defined limit. However we would begin to encounter problems as the sequence of heights approached said limit. The deltas would become smaller than the precision of our equipment, and later would become smaller than physically meaningf…

You would be right if humans are made of numbers and not atoms.

But humans are made of many atoms, and the measurement is averaged over some time period in which molecules vibrate many times, so there is no limit to the precision with which they can be measured.

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#49

Post by galtwho »

davnn wrote: post #41
selectron wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is pretty conclusive evidence that taller men are on average more attractive than shorter men. However being more attractive does not necessarily mean you will have more kids. My theory is that people want to marry people of similar attractiveness, so if for very attractive people the pool of potential matches could actually be smaller, in part because attractive people are more choosy. Also in terms of evoluti…

From the article: In fact, from a pure Darwinian perspective of fitter organisms producing more offspring, the opposite is happening with modern Homo sapiens. Impoverished, less healthy, and thus typically shorter families tend to have more children than prosperous families. Everybody knows it, but it's pretty crazy when you think about it. However with a generally increasing standard of living that factor should sti…

I think the confusion comes from defining what is a "fitter" organism?

and if we keep to trend, its quite likely we will bring Idiocracy[1] to fruition

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Re: Will humans keep getting taller?

#50

Post by douche »

robotkilla wrote: post #38
douche wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 6'2", I wish I had either gone up to my projected 6'8" (I think based on the double at two metric) or stayed down at a mere 5-10"or 6'. Everything is too small for me... Long airline flights are excuciating, and even the height of common kitchen fixtures is really too low

what country do you live in? I'm your same height and I don't really have these issues.

US. I also have the difficulty of broad shoulders and something like a 50" chest, which makes airline seats even more fun - if I'm in an aisle seat, I constantly get one shoulder run over by the drink cart because it's sticking out beyond...

At least around here, anything household is designed for the height of a typical 5'5" woman. Counters and tables are low enough that I have to half bend over to use them.

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