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Hair loss (was Re: underwater space aliens)
Nicholas Rosen (ndr102@psuvm.psu.edu)
Sat, 21 Oct 1995 19:38:11 EDT
In article <46bbp1$pc7@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu>, Alex Duncan
<aduncan@mail.utexas.edu> says:
>
> The
>idea that australopiths were hairy is simple analogy. They're chimp-like
>animals, living in environments similar to the ones that chimps live in.
>Knowing that, and since we can postulate no adaptive reason why they
>should have lost their hair, it seems most reasonable to suggest that
>they had hairy bodies.
On similar grounds, it seems most reasonable to suggest that humans
have hairy bodies. (Many of us don't live in environments similar to
the ones chimps live in, but in colder climates, there is, if anything
more reason to be hairy.) However, we know that we are not nearly as
hairy as chimpanzees, so our ancestors must have lost most of their
hair at some stage, for some reason. For what reason? And if you think
that it was at some post-austalopithecine stage in human evolution,
why?
Nicholas Rosen
Standard disclaimers apply.
It is a principle of the law that people are presumed to intend the
reasonably foreseeable consequences of their actions. Those who apply
this principle to government actions are paranoid conspiracy theorists.
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