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Quirks of Human Anatomy

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Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#71

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

canjobear wrote: post #64
joefourier wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a difference between having no immediate use, and having no reason to exist. From what I understand, sexual differentiation works by having the Y chromosome act as a switch, and both sexes have to share the same blueprint with hormones guided the development of their organs. For males not to have nipples, they'd need to be actively destroyed, which poses a risk for females to also not have nipples, which…

It doesn't seem like eliminating nipples should be any harder than eliminating the uterus...

That's true, but inactive nipples don't cost anything, which certainly isn't the case for an inactive uterus. I don't know how it works, but I assume that such developments follow some kind of cost-benefit function.

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#73

Post by fastjack42 »

xg15 wrote: post #13
josefrichter wrote: post #10

What about testicles outside the body? Every man has a painful story why it’s not a good idea..

I read this does have a functional reason: Sperm cells have to be kept at slightly lower temperature than the body temperature, so if the testicles were inside the body, the sperm wouldn't survive. Of course you could ask why sperm is so temperature sensitive in the first place...

Now that sounds like a design flaw in sperm cells

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#74

Post by lostlogin »

ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote: post #71
canjobear wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem like eliminating nipples should be any harder than eliminating the uterus...

That's true, but inactive nipples don't cost anything, which certainly isn't the case for an inactive uterus. I don't know how it works, but I assume that such developments follow some kind of cost-benefit function.

Not nipple related per se, but males do get breast cancer.

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#75

Post by lostlogin »

amelius wrote: post #59
drfloyd51 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Akshully… These flaws were left in so there would be no proof of a creator. Because with proof, there is no faith. And faith is a requirement of winning. Imagine how hard it must have been to design “flaws” like these but still allow humans to survive. I can’t. Therefore, you can’t. Only an omnipotent god could do it. Checkmate atheists!

If we must have faith, then why does He need constant advertising? I'd say kill that advertising for a few generations, then see what is left.

Can we kill all advertising?

That would almost have me believing in a god.

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#76

Post by keane »

mbivert wrote: post #15

> f. Nipples are useless in human males (cf. Ch. 5). When I was a kid, I got my tonsils removed "because they were useless and a source of illness". I've recently heard that tonsil removal is now more disputed: it may collect filth, sure, but it may also prevent it from going deeper into the body, which may cause more serious illnesses. Given its vast complexity, and the timeline of its creation/evolution, I remain s…

My doctor has (with case by case exceptions as needed) a general rule to encourage a conservative approach: if at all possible, attempt to leave with everything you arrived with

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#77

Post by atwrk »

Auracle wrote: post #58
clickety_clack wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to say the same thing. When we look at a book, we see the book in our minds, not a picture of a book. The processing that happens in our brains works to create the representation, it’s not transforming one image into another.

There’s a significant portion of the population that doesn’t “see” anything in their mind’s eye when reading.

Clickety_clack propably wasn't referring to people with aphantasia not seeing the story unfolding while reading the book, but the book itself: We predict that the thing we hold in our hands is a book entity, and then we use our sensory perception to affirm or change that prediction. We don't continuously parse a 2D array of pixels and interpret that as as a book every frame.

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#79

Post by XorNot »

slidehero wrote: post #68
mbivert wrote: post #15

> f. Nipples are useless in human males (cf. Ch. 5). When I was a kid, I got my tonsils removed "because they were useless and a source of illness". I've recently heard that tonsil removal is now more disputed: it may collect filth, sure, but it may also prevent it from going deeper into the body, which may cause more serious illnesses. Given its vast complexity, and the timeline of its creation/evolution, I remain s…

similar story with the appendix. Initially considered a useless vestige, now thought to be involved with maintaining gut bacteria.

And yet has no discernible positive effect on modern human survival rates but one of the most acutely lethal negative ones.

Pre-medicine you got appendicitis and just died painfully.

Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy

#80

Post by melagonster »

volemo wrote: post #14
xg15 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this does have a functional reason: Sperm cells have to be kept at slightly lower temperature than the body temperature, so if the testicles were inside the body, the sperm wouldn't survive. Of course you could ask why sperm is so temperature sensitive in the first place...

If elephants did it, I’m sure we can too.

They have a complex system to mantain the specific temperature. Huaman and other smaller animal do not have enough space to it inside.
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