Originally posted by Suzianne I wouldn't exactly call this an evolutionary advantage for humans, though, would you?
I mean I don't think I've ever navigated to somewhere by my nose. On second thought, though, I do have a good sense of where north is all the time. In school, we did experiments on this where people were blindfolded and spun around until disoriented and then asked to ...[text shortened]... m guessing my life isn't going to come down to being able to guess north while blindfolded.
this sense is particularly well developed in me and it aids in identifying a northerly direction, i've never been lost. i can imagine how much more useful it would have been to my ancestors who didn't have convenient roads or gps devices to navigate. such an evolution would be very useful to primitive hunters who have to relocate the position of the herd or a kill.
Originally posted by Suzianne I wouldn't exactly call this an evolutionary advantage for humans, though, would you?
I mean I don't think I've ever navigated to somewhere by my nose. On second thought, though, I do have a good sense of where north is all the time. In school, we did experiments on this where people were blindfolded and spun around until disoriented and then asked to ...[text shortened]... m guessing my life isn't going to come down to being able to guess north while blindfolded.
I'd call being able to find your way back to the cave after a long hunt an evolutionary advantage! However the data on magnetoception in humans is not conclusive regardless of whats in our nasal bones!
Maybe its a sense we once had that proved redundant? Who knows. :-)
Originally posted by RJHinds Evolution is used to explain everything for you guys. Actually it does not
explain anything.
evolution explains most things related to biology. it can even be extended to explain a whole lot concerning the development of the cosmos, the development of societies and ideas, including the development of religions.
christianity for example evolved from judeism which evolved from noahide religion which evolved from abrahamic religion which evolved from babylonian religion which evolved from sumerian religion.
Originally posted by VoidSpirit this sense is particularly well developed in me and it aids in identifying a northerly direction, i've never been lost. i can imagine how much more useful it would have been to my ancestors who didn't have convenient roads or gps devices to navigate. such an evolution would be very useful to primitive hunters who have to relocate the position of the herd or a kill.
Originally posted by VoidSpirit evolution explains most things related to biology. it can even be extended to explain a whole lot concerning the development of the cosmos, the development of societies and ideas, including the development of religions.
christianity for example evolved from judeism which evolved from noahide religion which evolved from abrahamic religion which evolved from babylonian religion which evolved from sumerian religion.
you're welcome.
Woah, we are conflating here common use (misuse) of evolution and Evolution the scientific theory that forms the basis of biology.
They are not the same thing, and it's best we don't mix the two.
Originally posted by googlefudge Woah, we are conflating here common use (misuse) of evolution and Evolution the scientific theory that forms the basis of biology.
They are not the same thing, and it's best we don't mix the two.
yes, but i was responding to 'evolution' not 'the theory of evolution.'
Originally posted by VoidSpirit yes, but i was responding to 'evolution' not 'the theory of evolution.'
Yes, but given that confusion about what evolution is, is one of the major issues, those
that do know should take pains to clarify not confuse the situation.
Evolution is a word that gets used for many things that it has nothing to do with, and when
someone asks about evolution in the correct context of biology, then I think moving beyond
that is unhelpful.
Creationists do a good enough job deliberately confusing people without help.
Originally posted by VoidSpirit this sense is particularly well developed in me and it aids in identifying a northerly direction, i've never been lost. i can imagine how much more useful it would have been to my ancestors who didn't have convenient roads or gps devices to navigate. such an evolution would be very useful to primitive hunters who have to relocate the position of the herd or a kill.
but that's what I'm saying, it wouldn't have been nearly as useful as you think.
Do you think ancient man even understood what "north" is? And/or how it related to what he saw with his eyes? Was it obvious to ancient man that the world was round and could he have envisioned a map of it? Or even just his "neighborhood"? Furthermore, how could he use it to describe to another where the herd or a kill was? It's likely he just did a lot of pointing using visual clues. The oldest maps just used graphical depictions of the things he saw in his environment. And they certainly were not always oriented with north at the top.
Originally posted by Suzianne but that's what I'm saying, it wouldn't have been nearly as useful as you think.
Do you think ancient man even understood what "north" is? And/or how it related to what he saw with his eyes? Was it obvious to ancient man that the world was round and could he have envisioned a map of it? Or even just his "neighborhood"? Furthermore, how could he use i ...[text shortened]... in his environment. And they certainly were not always oriented with north at the top.
Also, all the evidence I have seen indicates that if blindfolded (or deprived of the ability to determine
direction by some other visual means) people walk in a spiral.
Creatures that have a magnetic sense when blinded still travel in strait lines because they can still navigate
via their magnetosense.
Originally posted by Suzianne but that's what I'm saying, it wouldn't have been nearly as useful as you think.
Do you think ancient man even understood what "north" is? And/or how it related to what he saw with his eyes? Was it obvious to ancient man that the world was round and could he have envisioned a map of it? Or even just his "neighborhood"? Furthermore, how could he use i ...[text shortened]... in his environment. And they certainly were not always oriented with north at the top.
senses work independently and automatically. you don't have to 'know' anything to be able to see, to hear, to taste, etc.
Originally posted by googlefudge Also, all the evidence I have seen indicates that if blindfolded (or deprived of the ability to determine
direction by some other visual means) people walk in a spiral.
Creatures that have a magnetic sense when blinded still travel in strait lines because they can still navigate
via their magnetosense.
Originally posted by googlefudge Also, all the evidence I have seen indicates that if blindfolded (or deprived of the ability to determine
direction by some other visual means) people walk in a spiral.
Creatures that have a magnetic sense when blinded still travel in strait lines because they can still navigate
via their magnetosense.
Good point.
But the whole concept of "evolutionary advantage" kinda goes out the window when you add being blind on top of it. Blind cavemen stumbled off cliffs and into wild animals. Blindness would more than outweigh any evolutionary advantage given by magnetoreception. This is primarily why we learned to be diurnal.
Evolution question????
04 Dec '11 00:34
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