The " I always wondered" thread

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
Some animals live a few days, some animals live 200 years or more. Humans live around 80 years. Why?

What causes us to "time out"?

In his natural state, the span of life of men is around 25 years, that is the time necessary to have enough opportunity to reproduce (meaning transmitting his own genes). The difference between 25 and 80 years is not necessary, and it is well known that the human body begins to decay around 20.

[TheStinger]

We have evolved longer life spans because it is in our interests to be around to support our children

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by TheStinger
We have evolved longer life spans because it is in our interests to be around to support our children

The moment the body begins to decay, AFAIK, has not evolved; each type of cell is programmed to be rebuild a number of time limited by design. Until the end of XIX° century, the life expectation was hardly 30 years, that is not very different from the natural state, only due to better food and security than in natural state; nothing to do with evolution.

[Eli]

each type of cell is programmed to be rebuild a number of time limited by design

If our "natural age of death" is around 30, why are our cells getting rebuilt until a much higher age?

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by DAVOUT


The moment the body begins to decay, AFAIK, has not evolved; each type of cell is programmed to be rebuild a number of time limited by design. Until the end of XIX° century, the life expectation was hardly 30 years, that is not very different from the natural state, only due to better food and security than in natural state; nothing to do with evolution.

Actually the life expactancy figures were skewed by the large number of child birth and baby deaths. If you got to 10 or so you had a good chance of getting to 50-60.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Ramo
The ability to construct a better spear was a bigger plus, and the ability to throw a bigger spear would've undermined that ability.

Until there was broze, most spears were constructed pretty much the same. Of course, after awhile, bows and arrows replaced spears as ranged weapons.

Originally posted by GePap
"The more intelliegent?" the line of homo was making tools long before homo sapiens sapiens, and unless competition between homonids was fierce and new technological and cultural breakthroughs common, i can;t see why strength would be selected against, nuless ramo is correct and brainpower could be used better elsewhere 9though I have doubts about the notino that it takes more brain capacity to run stronger muscles).

Strength wasn't selected against, it was just not the primary concern, even though it was quite important for a very long time. See, it's not just the ability to make tools, there's also the ability to make fire, to learn - so you know what plants are poisonous, what rocks make better tools, and so forth. In there somewhere there's also the development of languages, so that experiences could be passed along to the next generation.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DAVOUT
In his natural state, the span of life of men is around 25 years, that is the time necessary to have enough opportunity to reproduce (meaning transmitting his own genes). The difference between 25 and 80 years is not necessary, and it is well known that the human body begins to decay around 20.

That is not correct. Even though by 25 a lot of individuals probably have good chances to pass along genetic information, the catch is humans are k-strategists. That means humans give birth to a few offspring, but we rear them well. On the flip side are the r-strategists, which makes a lot of babies. You can see that the highest forms of animals (birds, mammals) are all k-strategists, that means they need a lifespan long enough to rear their young too. I'd say that put at least the natural lifespan to 40 years.

[Lancer]

Why 'panties'?

[Harovan]

Originally posted by johncmcleod
And why do Germans in the movies yell "Halt!" for telling people to stop? This would be the correct command for the familiar form, but Germans in this situation would definitely talk in the formal. They would say "Halten Sie!"

No. They would say "Halt!". "Halten Sie!" means "Hold this!"

[Sikander]

Re: Humans vs other Primates in strength

While the great apes are much stronger than us, we have quite a few advantages over them mentally and physically. For starters, we have much greater stamina and ability to cover large amounts of ground in a day. If we weighed as much as some of the great apes we wouldn't be able to hunt or gather nearly as well, or as long. Our brains allow us many ways of making up for this limitation on our strength. We use tools to increase our strength through the use of hard materials for clubs and spear points, and the use of leverage. We can stand off and remain potent adversaries through the use of missle weapons. All of these advantages predate homo sapiens sapiens, though they have intensified in their effects since then to a large extent. Simply, the advantages of having greater burst strength are heavily outweighed by being lighter, swifter and having more stamina, especially as our shortcomings in strength can be more than compensated for by our numerous technical advantages.

[Makeo]

What a great thread. Its like being at a party where everyone is talking around you about different things and you get a snippet here and there.

[Kropotkin]

Once before I started a thread about why americans seems to use what to me seems as inferior grocery bags without handles.

There's nother thing I've noticed that I think more than americans have but I still haven't figured out what it's for. In the sink there seems to be some sort of grinder down in the hole. What's the point of that?

[Chemical Ollie]

If you release a litre of liquid water into deep space, what would happen first:

1) It will instantly evaporate and then freeze to small crystals.

2) It will instantly freeze to a large chunk of ice.

3) Something else

[TheStinger]

I always wondered how sttar trek spaceships always met each other the correct way up

[DAVOUT]

Originally posted by Eli

each type of cell is programmed to be rebuild a number of time limited by design

If our "natural age of death" is around 30, why are our cells getting rebuilt until a much higher age?

I was talking of average lifespan, not age of death. For an average of 25, it is clear that taking into account the high rate of death of newborns, on the other end there are people living much older than 25. But those have there bodies decaying from the early 20, starting by the brain.