4 ms·

> People have 2 arms and 2 legs with 5 fingers/toes at the end of each. This is a fact, not changed by the fact that indeed there are some people with more than

> People have 2 arms and 2 legs with 5 fingers/toes at the end of each. This is a fact, not changed by the fact that indeed there are some people with more than 5 fingers/toes, some with fewer or even none at all. Those people are the exception to the rule. > Those people are the exception If there are exceptions, then it's not a fact. At best, it's an approximation that works well in most situations, and is subject to exceptions where it is simply false.

Ourgon 5y ago
That's just sophistry which doesn't add anything to the discussion. Given that the vast majority (99.98%) of humans do end up either male or female [1] it is a fact that humans are sexually dimorphic with male and female phenotypes with the exceptions being just that: exceptions. [1] the prevalence of intersex is seen to be about 0.018%: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490209552139 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0022449020955213...
- vba616 5y ago
  >with the exceptions being just that: exceptions This is a parochial viewpoint. Are you aware that other species have a wide variety of mechanisms for determining sex? Which means that evolution can and does result in the modification of fundamentals, at least if you take common descent for granted. This can only happen if a mostly bimodal distribution is not entirely bimodal - what would provide the material for evolution to something different otherwise? Hence, the outliers are not insignificant at all, except according to some arbitrary value system. I don't have a reference, but I vaguely recall reading that the asymmetry between the X and Y chromosome has developed under evolutionary pressure and eventually the Y chromosome may disappear entirely.
  - vba616 5y ago
    Eppur si muove.