I assume the intelligent designer was fired for this.
I assume the writer is a one-dimensional man.
Quirks of Human Anatomy
81–90 of 109 posts
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#82This is kind of funny. This is what produces one-dimensional humans.
The desire to put it this way... the underlying assumptions like "pain is not good", and so on... is ideological, not scientific.
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#83Earlier 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...
afaik they serve some purpose in regulating androgenic-estrogenic hormone production.
The amount of testosterone in women is not zero, likewise the amount of estrogen in men is not zero as well, and breast tissue does serve some purpose in regulating hormoe production, even in men.
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
it has been suggested that a human genetically-engineered for a life in zero G would be better of with no legs and extra arms.
Just bring back opposable thumbs on feet.
I don’t know about you but when I’m hanging around at home I pick things up with my toes all the time. My mom taught me how. My wife thinks I’m crazy.
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#85[dead]
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#86The urethra is routed through the prostate specifically because it needs to occlude it during sex. The prostate swells during an erection to obstruct the urethra and significantly reduce the likelihood of a bacterial infection in the bladder. It's a very important function.
Amazing. I didn't know that. Prostate in Greek means Protector and took its name from it's role. Ages ago this function was known.
Your statement implies the ancient Greeks discovered the functionality and named this organ.
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#87The eyes of squids are right side out, unlike ours. I wonder what other animals have the "correct" version of these features.
Full-featured eyes have developed a few times independently [0], so it could be that mammals and squids have evolved on different branches that split before the common ancestors had eyes as a feature. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_the_eye#Origins_o...
Isn't that exclusively what that indicates?
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#88> The process would be safer (and less painful) if the path mimicked a caesarean section, with the baby exiting through the navel.
Prenatal development research posits that natural birth is a required “early training experience” and that a lack or disruption of that collaboration between mother, environment and (already conscious) baby during pregnancy and during birth (like cesarean) may result in various psychological deficiencies/difficulties later in life.
See eg.
The Emotional Ramifications of Being Born in a Cesarean Delivery (2017) https://birthpsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/liVQo...
Cesarean childbirth and psychosocial outcomes: A meta-analysis. (1996) https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-05270-009
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> human body [...] has only been around for a vanishingly short period of time in evolutionary terms. "as far as we know." Every few years, I see in the headlines stuff like "oldest 'human' ever found in X." The theory of evolution itself has morphed since Darwin [0], and is probably far from being in its definitive form. The timeline remains astronomical w.r.t. a human life, and the perception of a single human. A f…
> as far as we know." Every few years, I see in the headlines stuff like "oldest 'human' ever found in X." The discovery of older humans does not respond to the point you’re arguing against — in evolutionary time scales, humans are recent. > The theory of evolution itself has morphed since Darwin [0], and is probably far from being in its definitive form. Fields continue to change as they grow older, but the magnitud…
> The discovery of older humans does not respond to the point you’re arguing against — in evolutionary time scales, humans are recent.
I meant, evolutionary time scales themselves are subjected to accuracy issues. The measurements techniques themselves are subject to accuracy issues as well.
> but the magnitude of changes tend to get smaller
Agreeing with the tendency, but there are great exceptions; physics comes to mind. The fact that we still don't properly understand QM, and physics being conceptually at the root of many sciences, a proper understanding of it may force to revisit a few things "up there".
> I think painful childbirth pretty much shouldn’t matter much to evolution, because the parents have no control over the birth at that point
Sorry, I (genuinely) don't get the argument.
Regardless, I saw articles [0][1] linking (minor) DNA alterations to exercising. It'd be interesting to see how body stresses in general could impact DNA, and how this would wrap up with evolution.
> then it could just be random noise.
Well, the problem with "noise", is that from the outset, we can't know distinguish between "actual noise" − assuming such a thing exist − or if it's merely a reflection of ignorance. The latter at least gives us direction in which to search stuff. So "evolution provided X, so X _may_ be needed" I guess
[0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-025-00217-0
[1]: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/34391-scientists-discove...
Re: Quirks of Human Anatomy
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just bring back opposable thumbs on feet.
I don’t know about you but when I’m hanging around at home I pick things up with my toes all the time. My mom taught me how. My wife thinks I’m crazy.
Same! Why bend over when I can grab with the floor hands and bring it up to my air hands?