14-05-2003 08:30									#1
	The " I always wondered" thread Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

well, lets see how long this lasts:

The point of this thread is pure education. It is designed for people to ask question that they have always had and hopefully someone else can answer them, or point them to an answer.

I will start:

why are humans so physically weak when compared to other apes? A 200 lb chimp or orangutan is much stronger than a 200 lb man (a fit, healthy one, even a muscle bound one)..so, again, why is this?

	14-05-2003 08:32									#2
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Hmm, good question. I don't know.

I've always wondered why women say men never approach them but 90% of the time a man does they shoot him down before he even gets a word in edge wise.

	14-05-2003 08:35									#3
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How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

	14-05-2003 08:35									#4
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as much wood as a woodchuck would chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

	14-05-2003 08:36									#5
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Evolution...who needs brute strength when you can use your thumbs to make a weapon that can deliver 4, 8, 10, 100, 1000, 100000000 times the damage?

	14-05-2003 08:37									#6
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Real answers please.Oh, and Shi, real question too.

and do you have a question yourself?

	14-05-2003 08:38									#7
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Why do hot dog packages come in 8 and the buns come in 6?

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!"

	14-05-2003 08:39									#8
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Why are hotdogs so much shorter then hotdog buns? Shouldn't they be designed to be the same length?

Last edited by Oerdin on 14-05-2003 at 08:47

	14-05-2003 08:41									#9
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Argg!

Lets just hope someone from the meat packing industry works here.

(so much for high concept threads)

	14-05-2003 08:41									#10
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How did Zylka get to be so ****ed up?

	14-05-2003 08:44									#11
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quote: Originally posted by orange How did Zylka get to be so ****ed up?

Now that WAS profound.

	14-05-2003 08:45									#12
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quote: Originally posted by GePap Real answers please.

I think orange is on the right track, evolution is the key. For apes, strength is selected for, since strength determines which (male) apes can become alphas, so their genes get passed down.

For humans, this is no longer the case. In the course of evolution, only the more intelligent tribes could survive against all the natural elements, thus intelligence became the prime factor that is selected for.

	14-05-2003 08:46									#13
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quote: why are humans so physically weak when compared to other apes? A 200 lb chimp or orangutan is much stronger than a 200 lb man (a fit, healthy one, even a muscle bound one)..so, again, why is this?

I think it requires lots of energy and more brain time to operate more muscles. It's a trade off - we have more complex thoughts, while gorillas have a more complex muscular system. An ape-like muscular system would've been selected out of humans since it would've been a waste of resources.

	14-05-2003 08:50									#14
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Do ape's have more muscles? Or stronger muscles?

	14-05-2003 08:51									#15
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I've seriously wondered why people in the green movement haven't embraced nuclear power. It produces very little pollution and solves, what many of them considered to be, the great threat to the world today, global warming. I don't think GW will be nearly as big an issue as the pundits say but I would like to see fewer fossil fuels used.

	14-05-2003 08:51									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Ramo An ape-like muscular system would've been selected out of humans since it would've been a waste of resources.

Why? I think the ability to chuck bigger spears for longer distances was a definite plus for most of human history.

IMHO, the changes in skeletal structure that permit humans to walk upright, thus to develop intelligence, also rendered humans weaker.

	14-05-2003 08:57									#17
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quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger For humans, this is no longer the case. In the course of evolution, only the more intelligent tribes could survive against all the natural elements, thus intelligence became the prime factor that is selected for.

"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).

The shift to bipedalism seems to make sense, though orangutans share the upright stance (look at them when they walk, they walk more upright than chimps) and yet, as I said, they are much stronger than us.

	14-05-2003 09:03									#18
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quote: Why? I think the ability to chuck bigger spears for longer distances was a definite plus for most of human history.

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

quote: Do ape's have more muscles? Or stronger muscles?

Probably both more muscles and a higher density of muscular fibers. For either reason, the ape needs a lot more energy.

	14-05-2003 09:06									#19
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Could it be that realitively more energy was invested in the brain so realitively less energy had to be invested some where else? Also lot's of muscles require lots of food to support; as early humans would have been hunter/gatherers/scavengers why expend lots of energy on anything but the bare amount needed for survival?

	14-05-2003 09:08									#20
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Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying.

	14-05-2003 09:08									#21
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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"?

	14-05-2003 09:13									#22
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quote: Originally posted by orange How did Zylka get to be so ****ed up?

drugs.

	14-05-2003 09:16									#23
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quote: Originally posted by Ramo Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Yes, but the brain is an incredible energy hog. was competiton among homonids so strong? i mean, why would a creature half as creative as man, but twice as strong, be a failure? The only thing that I can see wipping it out is, well, another set of homonids.

Does anyone have a clue about relative strenghts of the line of homonids?

	14-05-2003 09:16									#24
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quote: 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"?

Thanks for introducing a fine question!

	14-05-2003 09:20									#25
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Also the way humans evolved was to become more childlike (there's a scientific word for this process that eludes me), that's why we are less hairy, better at learning, and have a bigger brain:body ratio just like chimp babies compared to adult chimps. That's also part of the reason why we're weaker.

	14-05-2003 09:21									#26
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Oerdin :
From whay I have gathered with ecologist friends (I am pro-nuclear myself, so it has sparked more than one discussion ), ecologists consider that we cannot deal properly with the nuclear rejections, and we have no other choice than to hide them for the next thousands of years.
To them, this means we are poisoning the Earth of our Children, grandchildren etc. for millenia to come in order to have some electricity. This is a responsibility they don't want to take.

To fight global warming, they favor the adoption of 'clean' energy sources such as wind-energy and solar enegry, as well as more efficient standards.

	14-05-2003 09:22									#27
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quote: Yes, but the brain is an incredible energy hog. was competiton among homonids so strong? i mean, why would a creature half as creative as man, but twice as strong, be a failure? The only thing that I can see wipping it out is, well, another set of homonids.

The neandertals and homo erectus were outcompeted/exterminated by homo sapiens sapiens, likely because they weren't smart enough. The same goes for the other hominid dead ends.

quote: Does anyone have a clue about relative strenghts of the line of homonids?

I seem to recall something about neanderthals being stronger than homo sapiens sapiens.

	14-05-2003 11:17									#28
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quote: I've seriously wondered why people in the green movement haven't embraced nuclear power. It produces very little pollution and solves, what many of them considered to be, the great threat to the world today, global warming. I don't think GW will be nearly as big an issue as the pundits say but I would like to see fewer fossil fuels used.

I have no problems with nuclear, as long as it is done properly. I would prefer other forms, but until then, I don't see why we're not doing more with nuclear...would rather see fusion...

	14-05-2003 13:21									#29
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I wonder if the laundring of black money (recycling it into the visible economy) has positive or negative effects on growth.

	14-05-2003 13:26									#30
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I wonder why in films all english people are portrayed as having London or upper class accents when infact less than 1/3 of the english speak like that