Re: I still don't understand the tears...
jamesb@hgu.mrc.ac.uk
19 Oct 1995 13:55:09 GMT
bbur@wpo.nerc.ac.uk (Bill Burnett) wrote:
>You did it again in the same breath (aspirin, arsenic, hey what's the diff?),
>but I don't really care. What bothers me is that you somehow think this
>strengthens the AAT.
>HOW? How how how how how how how how???????????
>
Whoops! I hope I don't ever have to treat a headache!
If beavers don't shed emotional tears then this means that only elephants
and humans and many marine animals shed emotional tears. So this makes it
more plausible to suggest marine ancestors for humans and elephants.
>In fact, you could even argue that to go from isotonic tears for eye
>protection to isotonic tears as an emotional display is more parsimonious
>(and, according to some peoples thinking more probable) than to go from
>hypertonic excretory tears to isotonic emotional ones.
>
To support this argument you would have to give me an example of a purely
terrestrial animal (Obviously besides humans) that has gone from isotonic
tears for eye protection to isotonic tears as an emotional display (Prove
that elephants don't have a marine ancestor and AAT is stuffed). It is a
testable hypothesis of AAT that there aren't any. I have given references
that confirm that some animals that have hypertonic excretory tears also
shed these tears when emotionally upset. My hypothesis (can you think of
a way to test it?) is that our ancestor's tears were hypertonic.
To conclude : only marine animals, elephants and humans shed tears when
emotionally upset. Why?
James Borrett.
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