Less hair = More modern human being?

[mercanucaribe]

Black people and Asians must be REALLY advanced.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Well huh.. Its too short term to say something like that... but knowing that alot of people barely have body hair means we are still evolving, which is a good sign

 

[DaShen]

Ummm... each race/species has evolved to fit the environment in different ways.

No big deal. The idea of "modern" is a misnomer in evolutionary standpoints.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: Oblivionaire

Originally posted by: lizardth
Actually, I was told in one of my anthropology classes that we have as much hair on our bodies as adult chimps. So it isn't that we have less hair, we just have finer hair, not coarse hair.

I don't know who's dumber, the person that spouted that nonsense or you for believing it.

That's entirely believable. Look at your arm. It should be covered in hair. It's just that it's thin, and very short.

 

[Noema]

Not really. Since having less hair in no way gives an individual selective fitness advantages over individuals with more hair, they don't get 'selected' in Darwinian terms, so genes for being bald don't spread accross the population over genes of people with more hair.

A 'trait' can only become 'Wild type' (ie, 'normal' within a population) when it offers increased opportunities of survival compared to the individuals who don't possess it, allowing them to survive and reproduce more efficiently. After the gene pool becomes flooded with the trait to a point in which the trait becomes 'standard' and a requirement for success (ie fitness), the trait becomes wild type and thus you can say the gene pool evolved.

Can you tell me any circumpstance in which this trait (being bald - having less hair) makes it easier for its bearers within a human comunity to survive? Thought not. Thus, there's no reason why it would become 'Wild Type'.

You can blame baldness to: longer life expectancies (people live more and thus have more time for their hair to fall out. If during the early bronze age people died at the age of 22ish, there was less time for the genes that produce baldness to have phenotypic effects, even though the genes were indeed there and passed on to us) and shampoo and all the crap they put into those products now a days.

 

[magomago]

i'm slightly envious though about not shaving I have to do like every 3 days at most because I can't stand it....but my old room mates take out a razor blade once every 3 months just knick their chin a little bit (yup they were asian). On the other hand - my old Korean room mate told me his dad shaved TWICE a day - once in the morning and once at night, because he would grow that fast...but he had nothing on his face.

But i think of the advantages - they can't style a beard in the many ways that I can

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Black people and Asians must be REALLY advanced.

So the fact that asians produce less testosterone, average slightly smaller penises, and are predominantly shorter and weaker than other races means they are more advanced :roll:

That is a really bass-ackwards conclusion. But I am guessing you are just messing around. But if this is the idea the OP is trying to hint at, that isn't a good way to look at it.

 

[opticalmace]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Black people and Asians must be REALLY advanced.

So the fact that asians produce less testosterone, average slightly smaller penises, and are predominantly shorter and weaker than other races means they are more advanced :roll:

Yep that's a totally appropriate thing to say. :roll:

 

[LineOFire]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Black people and Asians must be REALLY advanced.

So the fact that asians produce less testosterone, average slightly smaller penises, and are predominantly shorter and weaker than other races means they are more advanced :roll:

That is a really bass-ackwards conclusion. But I am guessing you are just messing around. But if this is the idea the OP is trying to hint at, that isn't a good way to look at it.

You forgot to flip on your sarcasm meter.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: LineOFire

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Black people and Asians must be REALLY advanced.

So the fact that asians produce less testosterone, average slightly smaller penises, and are predominantly shorter and weaker than other races means they are more advanced :roll:

That is a really bass-ackwards conclusion. But I am guessing you are just messing around. But if this is the idea the OP is trying to hint at, that isn't a good way to look at it.

You forgot to flip on your sarcasm meter.

Its the soy. soy womanizer!

 

[eits]

i think that less hair = more evolved.

the reason is because the main purpose of hair is to be a scent wick for potential mates. we don't really smell each other's musks anymore in order to pick a mate. as for smells, we cover it with fresh, floral, fruity, spicy, etc. scents.

as for people who are going to argue about the pheromones and how we need scents to identify each others smells or something, those are smells that come from the skin that are meant to be very subtle. babies aren't hairy, yet they give off more scents than adults in order to bond with their parents.

 

[drum]

i'll be walking on all fours soon then

 

[mercanucaribe]

Those Geico cavemen won't be happy when they read this thread...

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: DaShen
Ummm... each race/species has evolved to fit the environment in different ways.

No big deal. The idea of "modern" is a misnomer in evolutionary standpoints.

Yeah...pretty much truth.

To anyone that really believes that less hair = more evolved, whatever that means (I'm guessing intellectually), you need to crack a history book and look at the huge list of scientific contributions from northern Europe.

 

[ballmode]

I have a hairy chest... and balls

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: eits
i think that less hair = more evolved.

the reason is because the main purpose of hair is to be a scent wick for potential mates. we don't really smell each other's musks anymore in order to pick a mate. as for smells, we cover it with fresh, floral, fruity, spicy, etc. scents.

as for people who are going to argue about the pheromones and how we need scents to identify each others smells or something, those are smells that come from the skin that are meant to be very subtle. babies aren't hairy, yet they give off more scents than adults in order to bond with their parents.

That does somewhat explains underarm and pubes, and why the least hairy humans still have plenty of that. Hair also has the purpose of extending our sense of touch, aka forearm hair.

But I'd still say that the main purpose of body hair is far more about keeping warm than being a scent wick. Ever get a haircut in the winter and notice how much damn colder it is when you step outside?

I'm a hairy bastard. I sweat like a dog in the summer, and the only part of me thats really cold in the winter is my extremities and back. Body Hair keeps you quite warm, trust me.

Clothing is a pretty ancient invention, and given the 65,000 or so years since modern humans have evolved, thats plenty of time for there to be a phenotypic change. But that doesnt make hairless people "more evolved" - there's no such concept, and anyone educated in evolution would laugh at such a proposition. I guarantee you eskimos would consider hairless people to be quite less evolved.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Eska
I've always wondered if we lost body hair as evolution took its path, does it mean people with less body hair are more "modern?" I sometimes see people that have so much body hair in the gym locker room that look like gorillas from the back. But on the other end of the spectrum, I see people with almost zero body hair...

It's genetics you fool. It has nothing to do with "being modern" as you put it. WTF does that mean anyway?

 

[Geocentricity]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Are you Asian and trying to proclaim your race more evolved, because they generally have less hair?

HA! I've got hair on my front side like a bear!

Stop stereotyping asians with the no-hair-on-chest :frown:

 

[Auggie]

Originally posted by: Noema
Not really. Since having less hair in no way gives an individual selective fitness advantages over individuals with more hair, they don't get 'selected' in Darwinian terms, so genes for being bald don't spread accross the population over genes of people with more hair.

Can you tell me any circumpstance in which this trait (being bald - having less hair) makes it easier for its bearers within a human comunity to survive? Thought not. Thus, there's no reason why it would become 'Wild Type'.

You're pretty much wrong. Mammals with more fur and hair have a higher rate of parasite and bacterial infection, and this is observed pretty much across the phylogenetic spectrum of the Mammalia.

Thus there IS a very good selective force for having less body hair, and why within the last few million years, those that found a way to get around the opposing selective force favoring hair (ie - resistance to cold and wetness) reduced in number and location their hair follicles.

Due to the fact that body hair (except in very extraordinary cases) wouldn't limit the ability of a man or a woman to find a mate, there's been plenty of interbreeding, so it would be impossible to say that just because they happen to get a set of highly-hairy genes that their genes are any less "evolved" than another's.

 

[Auggie]

'Course I might be wrong: http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2006/03/naked-apes.php

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Less hair = more Asian

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
More modern? Sheesh....I like having a cushion of fur between me and the toilet seat.

the visual on that one is...whoa

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: AbAbber2k

Originally posted by: lizardth
Actually, I was told in one of my anthropology classes that we have as much hair on our bodies as adult chimps. So it isn't that we have less hair, we just have finer hair, not coarse hair.

Riiiiiiight...

Ya know, here at my school, Anthropologists are notorious for smokin the reefer.

I guess the statement should say, "the same number of hair follicles as adult chimps." Then maybe it'd make more sense. Some of the hair is just so fine that it's barely visible.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: eits
i think that less hair = more evolved.

the reason is because the main purpose of hair is to be a scent wick for potential mates. we don't really smell each other's musks anymore in order to pick a mate. as for smells, we cover it with fresh, floral, fruity, spicy, etc. scents.

as for people who are going to argue about the pheromones and how we need scents to identify each others smells or something, those are smells that come from the skin that are meant to be very subtle. babies aren't hairy, yet they give off more scents than adults in order to bond with their parents.

That does somewhat explains underarm and pubes, and why the least hairy humans still have plenty of that. Hair also has the purpose of extending our sense of touch, aka forearm hair.

But I'd still say that the main purpose of body hair is far more about keeping warm than being a scent wick. Ever get a haircut in the winter and notice how much damn colder it is when you step outside?

I'm a hairy bastard. I sweat like a dog in the summer, and the only part of me thats really cold in the winter is my extremities and back. Body Hair keeps you quite warm, trust me.

Clothing is a pretty ancient invention, and given the 65,000 or so years since modern humans have evolved, thats plenty of time for there to be a phenotypic change. But that doesnt make hairless people "more evolved" - there's no such concept, and anyone educated in evolution would laugh at such a proposition. I guarantee you eskimos would consider hairless people to be quite less evolved.

the primary goal of hair on a human is to be a scent wick... especially pubes and pit hair.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
Asian = more Racist

Fixed