Re: Guide for anti-AATers
Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 27 Oct 95 01:43:37 GMT
In article <46mcjq$8rh@henson.cc.wwu.edu>
n8010095@cc.wwu.edu "Phillip Bigelow" writes:
> I submit that the AAT IS falsifiable, but on more fundamental grounds:
> If physiologists can show that it is physiologically impossible for an
> aquatic hominid to weigh less than 100 pounds, be hairless, have around 12 %
> body fat, and still have their core temperature be in thermal equilibrium
> with ambient water temperature, then the entire theory is falsified. At
> best, the theory would have to be greatly revised, with the "hairless" part
> abandoned.
You never answered my "anecdotal" point. The AAT (or at least my
version of it) postulates that hominid (and hominid females in
particular) would frequently swim and dive for shellfish. On
emerging from the water they would have to dry off. The more
hair they had, the more they would suffer the chill factor
arising from evaporation. The selective advantage in less body
hair would be substantial. Head hair would still have the
advantage of insulation against the sun when keeping cool in
the water during the heat of the day.
The hairless part of the AAT is vital. Nakedness is one of our
most extraordinary features and cries out for an explanation.
The idea that a creature, with a hide as soft and as delicate
as ours, could manage in the woodland/mosaic/savannah must be
one of the most absurd in the history of science.
The AAT is an attempt to explain bipedalism and nakedness in the
context of speciation.
Paul.
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