From: Dickey, Michael F (michael_f_dickey@groton.pfizer.com)
Date: Mon Jul 15 2002 - 11:22:50 MDT
spike wrote:
<<In fact, I am not surprised that humans are currently getting larger. We
have figured out how to produce arbitrarily many calories, so we are in the
process of bootstrapping ourselves to a larger size. Is evidence necessary
to
support this claim? ...Humans are getting bigger fast.>>
Vanessa wrote:
You seem to be right & evidence is indeed everywhere. I don't have to look
any further than my own siblings who each just celebrated birthdays- my 7
year old sister is already about 4'4" (134 cm) & perhaps even more
surprising
is my 5 year old brother, not far behind at about 4 feet tall (126 cm).
These
kids are monsters! I worry a lot about what kinds of dreadful hormones may
be
in their milk but thats another topic.
So you do appear to be right but I don't understand why - it doesn't seem to
make sense. I mean, for what purpose do we need these big bodies? I don't
have to go out & hunt wildebeest with a big stick or survive unaided on the
polar icecap. Shouldn't we need less body-mass as we acquire & integrate
more
technology? Again, I'm probably being obtuse & missing something simple.
But
I just think its kind of creepy actually. It doesn't *seem* like it should
be
the next natural step.
Is my new DNA ready yet?
--------------------------
All animals in the absence of natural predators have a tendancy to increase
in size. Mega Fauna roamed the north american landscape for eons before
being wiped out by the first north american continent settlers. There were
giant elk, gian sloths (the size of large bears) and numerous other huge
creatures. Think of the size some dinosaurs obtained. Humans are in the
same situation, not much in the way of natural predators, coupled with the
drastic increase in available calories during formative years, there is
bound to be a net increase in the size of people. The increase has been
occuring since the onset of agriculture and will likely continue until
genetic manipulation steps in. It has been going on way before farm animals
were pumped full of hormones. Why there is a evolutionary predisposition to
an increase in size is another question entirely which I have no educated
guess on. For us to have continually smaller body masses there would have
to be some kind of selective pressure actively pushing us toward smaller
body masses, and as humans go, thanks to technology, there are very few
selective pressures acting on us now.
Just my 2c
Michael
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