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[Bauglir]

-snip-

[Argembarger]

@MetalBroHunt

I dunno... I think it's enough of a threat that I should go obsess over it and be really paranoid for a few years.

Well, if I'm gonna die, that's a really awesome way to do it. You're just sitting there, typing out a reply to some evolution thread on the bay12 forum, thinking about how tangential and off-topic that Argembarger guy is trying to bring it, when all of a sudden, a super brief instant of hellish, blinding horrible light and noise, and then you're dead. And so is everyone else in your country, I guess.

so anyway yeah evolution man that stuff is awesome.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Thousands of tone of gold will never ever ever randomly appear at my feet.

Ever Ever.

You're right. It'll probably be antigold instead.
For one, glorious moment, you'll be the richest man alive. And then immediately afterwards there will be no men alive.

[Realmfighter]

Were going to be at the point were we're dicking around our bodies before any major changes happen naturally.

Or we blow ourselves up.

Either way.

[Yalishandaw]

Y'know, this actually has parallels to Dwarf Fortress.  All the worldgen stuff is so Toady can play too.  If I were a god, I would find making a world inhabited by creatures that never changed significantly to be of limited interest.  But a world where creatures constantly adapt to their surroundings with no input from me?  Pretty badass, especially if they just started out as itty bitty microorganisms.

Also, I be Atheist, and don't really think it's a matter of belief.  Massive mountains of evidence all pointing towards evolution tends to make doubt... difficult.

[Derekristow]

Natural evolution doesn't operate on the scale of human civilization, but what about artificial evolution?  By replacing the normal natural selection process we were able to breed wolves into dogs much faster than natural evolution would have.  Perhaps we are increasing things like height and brain power simply by breeding ourselves for those traits.

[DJ]

We still remain in second place for muscle density out of all the species on this planet, beaten out only by the chimpanzee.

What does that mean? That we're the second strongest animal, pound for pound? If yes, I'd like to see you wrestle a black bear into submission, they're only slightly heavier than humans.

[ChairmanPoo]

If by slightly you mean "three times heavier" then yes, they're only "slightly heavier than humans"

[DJ]

Aren't they like 250lbs on average? I weigh 210lbs, and I'm fairly slim.

[ChairmanPoo]

Black bear weight tends to vary according to age, sex, health and season. Seasonal variation in weight is very pronounced: in autumn, their pre-den weight tends to be 30% higher than in spring, when black bears emerge from their dens. Black bears on the East Coast tend to be heavier on average than those on the West Coast. Adult males typically weigh between 125 and 550 lb, while females weigh 33% less at 90–275 lb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Black_Bear


Also worth noting that bears have teeth and claws.


And as a PD: I was checking on chimps some weeks ago for some reason, and in one of the pages I read, they said that they weren't actually stronger or proportionally more muscled than humans: that was the result of some mismeasurements in the twenties. A strong male human adult is a match in strenght for any chimp.

I do vaguely recall from (distant now) phyisiology class, while checking the lever effects on (human) muscles, that the insertion points in chimps gave them more bang for their buck

[DJ]

They only weigh 550lb when they're all fatted up for their winter sleep. In normal conditions I think 250lb is pretty close to average weight. I know some people that weigh 300lb and it's mostly muscle, but I'm pretty sure they couldn't overpower a bear.

Point is, humans are weaksauce for our size. That's because we're not built for power but rather for endurance. And we're pretty damn fuel-efficient, as large mammals go.

And while bears have claws, they don't have the dexterity to pull off an STF.

[Virex]

Lamarck wasn't all wrong you know


Anyway, since there are now Nylon eating bacteria, metro mosquitos and radiation eating fungi I think that it's pretty safe to say there's something akin to evolution going on. See also the E. coli long term evolution experiment for evolution tested in the lab.

[alway]

Humans were pretty unique in that we hunted by following something until it just about died of exhaustion. Running on our heels is part of it; it is a bit slower than running on one's toes, but much more energy efficient. This can be seen in the running styles of sprinters vs long distance runners. Most animals can put out short bursts of speed, before stopping and going back to grazing or whatever. Most predators run for a short distance, and if they don't catch it, they go "ah, screw this, I'm gonna go take a nap." We human just keep coming. And will keep running after it possibly for days. And that's how creatures without claws, talons, or impressive teeth can bring down prey several times their size.

[ChairmanPoo]

And that's how creatures without claws, talons, or impressive teeth can bring down prey several times their size.

Not saying it doesn't help, but I think that pointy sticks are a more immediate reason.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

We still remain in second place for muscle density out of all the species on this planet, beaten out only by the chimpanzee.

What does that mean? That we're the second strongest animal, pound for pound? If yes, I'd like to see you wrestle a black bear into submission, they're only slightly heavier than humans.

No. It means that we have the highest muscular tissue density. We're second strongest pound for pound of muscle tissue. Black Bears have more muscle tissue than us, but only by that feature is a black bear stronger than a human. Plus, the teeth, jaw strength, size, and claws help to make wrestling them unarmed difficult in the extreme.

Point is, humans are weaksauce for our size. That's because we're not built for power but rather for endurance. And we're pretty damn fuel-efficient, as large mammals go.

We are, in fact, Game Breakers for our size, even though we are built for endurance before power. The whole "Now dominate the entire planet." thing is fairly decent proof of that. In strength by weight, we're stronger than every species besides the chimpanzee, who are about 10% stronger per pound.

Humans are not weaksause in any area except natural disease resistance, and we're using technology to make that not a problem. Which means that, yes, humans are now the munckins of the world. It's a good thing animals can't talk, or they'd be ragequitting on us all the time.