3 ms·

How long until humans have an actual "shelve" (indentation) on their pinkie at birth to rest their phone on?

coldtea 3y ago
Given evolution? Thousands of years...
lbotos 3y ago
a long time? You probably need at least 7-9 generations to select "strong pinky shelf" as desirable and I'm not sure any culture is yet?
- coldtea 3y ago
  >You probably need at least 7-9 generations to select "strong pinky shelf" as desirable It not only has to be convenient, but also to be sexually selected (partners with that seen as more attractive) or helping with survivability (partners with that live longer and get to reproduce more), which ain't really applicable anyway. Which is the reason we don't have traits for any other minor "convenience" attribute either, but instead for long standing evolutionary benefits.
  - msm_ 3y ago
    Even in case something helps with survivability, the benefit must be strong enough to be selected for. Even today people are dying because of appendicitis, can't imagine the death rate in the pre-modern era.
  - jeromegv 3y ago
    It’s fascinating that most people don’t get that about evolution. It needs to be a matter of life and death, if it doesn’t, then it has no impact.
    - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
      Surely it's more to do with the chances of raising viable offspring. A change that makes a person more desirable to the opposite sex is very likely to be selected for even if it makes the person more likely to die in their 50s.
      - lazide 3y ago
        ‘It’s complicated’. Blue eyes, for example.
        ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
        Don't blue eyes support the "sexual selection" over "life or death" view of evolution though? Blue eyes don't provide any benefits to the owner other than possible sexual selection and surprisingly, they evolved before fair skin (which does provide a benefit for people in northern latitudes to produce enough vitamin D).
        coldtea 3y ago
        >Don't blue eyes support the "sexual selection" over "life or death" view of evolution though? Is it a choice? Evolution has both "life and death" and "sexual selection" aspects. And "sexual selection" itself is tied to "life and death" - it just concerns the life and death (or rather: existence or non-existence) of the offspring and not the person. So, in any case, it has to be big enough to affect whether the person gets an advantage in living more themselves, or gets an advantage for having children come to life.
        ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
        Well yes, it's both. I was replying to jeromegv's earlier comment of: > It’s fascinating that most people don’t get that about evolution. It needs to be a matter of life and death, if it doesn’t, then it has no impact.
raincole 3y ago
Never. Actually, considering how low the birth rates in developed countries are, humans would probably (very slowly) become less and less suitable for modern life.
hawski 3y ago
I would hope that phones would not remain the last point in the evolution of a personal computing device in so far as to make it able to steer the evolution of humans.
zare_st 3y ago
Never. Individuals with that kind of mutation have to be born per random chance, and then selected via sexual preference.

Given evolution? Thousands of years...

a long time? You probably need at least 7-9 generations to select "strong pinky shelf" as desirable and I'm not sure any culture is yet?

coldtea 3y ago
>You probably need at least 7-9 generations to select "strong pinky shelf" as desirable It not only has to be convenient, but also to be sexually selected (partners with that seen as more attractive) or helping with survivability (partners with that live longer and get to reproduce more), which ain't really applicable anyway. Which is the reason we don't have traits for any other minor "convenience" attribute either, but instead for long standing evolutionary benefits.
- msm_ 3y ago
  Even in case something helps with survivability, the benefit must be strong enough to be selected for. Even today people are dying because of appendicitis, can't imagine the death rate in the pre-modern era.
- jeromegv 3y ago
  It’s fascinating that most people don’t get that about evolution. It needs to be a matter of life and death, if it doesn’t, then it has no impact.
  - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
    Surely it's more to do with the chances of raising viable offspring. A change that makes a person more desirable to the opposite sex is very likely to be selected for even if it makes the person more likely to die in their 50s.
    - lazide 3y ago
      ‘It’s complicated’. Blue eyes, for example.
      - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
        Don't blue eyes support the "sexual selection" over "life or death" view of evolution though? Blue eyes don't provide any benefits to the owner other than possible sexual selection and surprisingly, they evolved before fair skin (which does provide a benefit for people in northern latitudes to produce enough vitamin D).
        coldtea 3y ago
        >Don't blue eyes support the "sexual selection" over "life or death" view of evolution though? Is it a choice? Evolution has both "life and death" and "sexual selection" aspects. And "sexual selection" itself is tied to "life and death" - it just concerns the life and death (or rather: existence or non-existence) of the offspring and not the person. So, in any case, it has to be big enough to affect whether the person gets an advantage in living more themselves, or gets an advantage for having children come to life.
        ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
        Well yes, it's both. I was replying to jeromegv's earlier comment of: > It’s fascinating that most people don’t get that about evolution. It needs to be a matter of life and death, if it doesn’t, then it has no impact.

raincole 3y ago

Never. Actually, considering how low the birth rates in developed countries are, humans would probably (very slowly) become less and less suitable for modern life.

hawski 3y ago

I would hope that phones would not remain the last point in the evolution of a personal computing device in so far as to make it able to steer the evolution of humans.

zare_st 3y ago

Never. Individuals with that kind of mutation have to be born per random chance, and then selected via sexual preference.