An Evolutionary Conspiracy
An Evolutionary Conspiracy
We were talking about a conspiracy that might have been perpetrated by evolution. It had to do with the removal of overall body hair, or fur, that our ancestors used to wear to keep warm and cover up. The conspiracy involved the shedding of this hair/fur so that a clothing industry could start up to give employment and make profit. The idea also included that we kept just enough body hair in certain parts so that other industries could develop in conjunction, to maintain that leftover or the removal of it. And you know what, that whole conspiracy/idea has worked out quite well, creating profit and giving employment to millions and millions all over the world.
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Obvious Leo
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Re: An Evolutionary Conspiracy
It's an interesting theory, spike, but the hairlessness of the naked ape lends itself to only one real explanation. We can safely assume that when the various hominid species climbed down from the trees about 5 million years ago they would have been about as hairy as the modern great apes. What could possibly account for the hairlessness of modern homo as well as his unique capacity for long-distance running?
"Homo hominis lupus est"...Plautus. "Man is the wolf of man"
Of course Plautus was a playwright and not an evolutionary biologist so he probably imagined he was composing a metaphor rather than offering a literal explanation for two otherwise very odd evolutionary traits. The plains hominids of the savannah were smart and would have had little to fear from other plains-dwelling predators. Top-order predators are short-distance sprinters, not long-distance stayers, and in plains ecology it is the prey animals who can run long distances and thus lose their hair over time whilst the predators retain it. The only logical conclusion is that the plains hominids were both the predator and prey of their own kind. There is quite a lot of good evidence for this amongst the Australopithecines and to extend the logic to the later homos would hardly be a leap of faith, given our homicidal proclivities towards those that are not "us".
Incidentally no other explanation for the evolution of human-level intelligence is possible. In the case of homo the survival of the fittest simply became the survival of the smartest and this rule has applied in our species ever since.
"Homo hominis lupus est"...Plautus. "Man is the wolf of man"
Of course Plautus was a playwright and not an evolutionary biologist so he probably imagined he was composing a metaphor rather than offering a literal explanation for two otherwise very odd evolutionary traits. The plains hominids of the savannah were smart and would have had little to fear from other plains-dwelling predators. Top-order predators are short-distance sprinters, not long-distance stayers, and in plains ecology it is the prey animals who can run long distances and thus lose their hair over time whilst the predators retain it. The only logical conclusion is that the plains hominids were both the predator and prey of their own kind. There is quite a lot of good evidence for this amongst the Australopithecines and to extend the logic to the later homos would hardly be a leap of faith, given our homicidal proclivities towards those that are not "us".
Incidentally no other explanation for the evolution of human-level intelligence is possible. In the case of homo the survival of the fittest simply became the survival of the smartest and this rule has applied in our species ever since.
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van Keister
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:11 pm
Re: An Evolutionary Conspiracy
Dominant male the less hair he had the more sexier his appearance. Sex dominates! But I suppose the real explanation is our use of fire and clothing that made fur less important. Fire has a major contribution in our morphology especially in our protruding jaws as well as the hardness of our teeth, even emotions, so being hirsute or not is a minor facet of evolution which is ongoing.