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Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

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Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's still a fucked-up thing to say - as if being taller is some kind of better thing and his courage makes him taller?

Would it be better if I said: Courage makes you bigger (admittedly it's phrased better that way because it's more indirect, but now we're analyzing glib four-word jokes)

"Courage makes you whiter" -- can we just not use physical traits as proxies for human value?

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#482
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is that preferences are malleable and there is no objective reality or grounding in modern society for short stature being an undesirable trait (at least going forward). My hypothesis is that short stature historically has been attributed to malnutrition, and therefore destitution as well, which has shaped modern day preferences, but perception lags reality. EDIT: Also I should add that people are reading my…

I would say that past preferences are simpler than malnutrition. The biggest brute wins. People feel safe around bigger people if they're on their team. I met Thor Bjornson a few years ago and meeting him was terrifying. I can see that trait as being desirable just from a protection and safety perspective. Like you said though, that's less necessary in this day and age.

That is a major oversimplification. Many fractures and disc disease are much more common with increasing stature so there are clear limiting factors in play.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Basically this means that in modern dating, if you are short, you are very likely to die alone and this trend will only get worse in the future. I'm 5'6, and after almost 15 years of dating sites to modern dating apps, I have indeed accepted that yes, I will very likely die alone. My therapist has even half-seriously suggested I try lying about my height, and qualms aside, from the studies I've read, any plausible-…

Plenty of women don't care about that. Just stop using apps like Tinder, they attract the worst of the worst, by what I see, especially in the US. Even if you were above 6', you wouldn't want to date a woman obsessed with height. In my group of friends, the shorter ones (around 1,73m) are the most successful ones.

Tinder is fine. I'm 5'7 or 5'8 (I don't even know really). I do alright on there.

Scott's problem is he's on social media (particularly Tik Tok) and apparently works or worked in a toxic environment.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#484
post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are complaining about anything, then yes, that energy is better spent elsewhere.

>If you are complaining about anything, then yes, that energy is better spent elsewhere. This is a remarkably unhealthy attitude, and callous to boot.

? Seems like a generally healthy attitude to me, though that poster may be taking it to an extreme.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are overestimating and being too kind on “modernity”. Even if today short stature is not a disadvantage (and that’s a big if), it can perfectly well be in one month, after a war or pandemic breaks out, or in a generation when your children will be shorter because of current preferences.

I can think of another genetic factor that has a much, much greater impact on survival. And it is absolutely taboo to mention the heritability or genetic basis of this trait. Take solace in the fact that if you find yourself on HN, you're likely at least a few SD above the mean in this trait, so you don't have much to worry about. Furthermore, you can use this trait to understand the fickle nature of sexual attractio…

But there is no reason to believe that 2SD above the mean in the heritable elements of 'intelligence' amounts to much. For all we know, almost everyone is born about the same and there are a few disabled at one tail and a few playing 10 simultaneous games of blindfolded chess at the other.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Basically this means that in modern dating, if you are short, you are very likely to die alone and this trend will only get worse in the future. I'm 5'6, and after almost 15 years of dating sites to modern dating apps, I have indeed accepted that yes, I will very likely die alone. My therapist has even half-seriously suggested I try lying about my height, and qualms aside, from the studies I've read, any plausible-…

Just date taller women. The fixation on this is a cope mainly found in middle-height American white women, nobody else cares.

Tall women are easy to get dates with, well unless they are the fashion model types who are hot enough to get the in-demand tall guys. There are lots of cute tall women who are unfairly neglected.

I'm average height and was married to a 5' 11" woman for a while. It always felt weird. It's much more comfortable for me to be with a woman who is a similar height, or a touch smaller, just for ergonomic reasons like how it feels when you hold hands or put your arms around each other.

I don't understand hot short women demanding tall guys as a kind of trophy. I know they can get them, because they are hot, but they'd be more comfortable with someone closer to their height.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#488

> “Don’t be so sure of yourself, short man!” The problem is that it's still socially acceptable to see short stature as some objective faux-pas. There's really no difference between a person proudly declaring they only like "white" people and a person declaring they only like "tall" people. If the guy said "Don't be so sure of yourself, black man" maybe it would have been acceptable in the 1920s, but it surely isn't…

> It's wrong to deride a person based on skin color not because it hurts their feelings, but because our preconceived notions on their inferiority hold no objective basis in reality except those derived from our flawed social perceptions.

No... if that were true then it would be OK to deride someone who was born with a deformed limb, because in that case the "inferiority" would really have an "objective basis in reality". They would be objectively inferior at certain tasks then someone without it. Does that make it ok to insult them?

Suggesting racism (or prejudice) is wrong simply because it's not objectively inferior is missing the point.

The actual answer, which I think you would have come to eventually, is that deride someone for an attribute they had no control over, is the essence of prejudice.

People do not chose to be born in a poor country, in an abusive family, black, French, short or handicap, these are simply the hands they were dealt.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm somewhere between 5' 7" and 5' 8". I've experienced the "filter" issue with online dating, but my conclusions are entirely different. I really don't mind it, in fact I appreciate it. Anyone who would filter me out over something as shallow as height would undoubtedly be an extraordinarily poor match for me. I prefer quality over quantity. As to the "die alone" thing - that seems a bit grim. I'm 46, since age 14 w…

I knew there would be answers of the style 'I'm short and Im great with girls' yes, but you are only a data point. I'm talking here of statistics, and in general short guys have it bad, according to online dating sites. You can easily do an experiment with a fake profile and see it yourself.

You're missing the point; not all of those guys are engaging in the kinds of self-improvement and development that could help them have experiences similar to the person to whom you are responding.

For an individual short guy, the quantitative info out there is only detrimental. At best, it's useless. They need a qualitative focus.

Re: Limb lengthening surgery is becoming more popular

#490

> “Don’t be so sure of yourself, short man!” The problem is that it's still socially acceptable to see short stature as some objective faux-pas. There's really no difference between a person proudly declaring they only like "white" people and a person declaring they only like "tall" people. If the guy said "Don't be so sure of yourself, black man" maybe it would have been acceptable in the 1920s, but it surely isn't…

Tallish guy here.

There are a reasonable number of women on dating sites that like saying pretty horrible things about shorter guys in there profiles.

I don't know that it does much but I've always treated it as a bit of a red flag and swiped left.

I don't think there's anything wrong with say, being attracted to someone taller than yourself, but I don't understand feeling the need to public ridicule someone about a physical trait you aren't attracted to.

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