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Seriously? Monkeys live on trees... Mountains exist for longer than humans.

spuz 13y ago
His point is not that fear of falling is learnt by visiting tall buildings but that the logic of his argument is the same as yours. If you can find the flaw in his argument then you should be able to find the flaw in your own.
- knowitall 13y ago
  Help me out then, because I don't see it? A fall is deadly, whether you fall from a skyscraper or a tree. You mean there might have been something else like nail polish, and people evolved a preference for that? But what would that have been? Some meshed up leaves people put on their finger nails? Apparently there is something like a preference for being a woman, and using nail polish can be a proxy for that. But my point is that it is most likely learned that nail polish has something to do with being a woman. And the mechanism is not "I wish I was a woman so that I could use nail polish", it is more likely "I wish I could be a woman, and nail polish makes me feel like one". Nevertheless, I am also not a biologist, just making things up. But I think some basic logic can be applied by everyone.
  - tomp 13y ago
    Nail polish -> healthy nails -> healthy body -> lots of resources & good genetics. Lipstick -> red lips -> sexual symbol (looks similar to vaginal labia) -> more reproductive choice
    - knowitall 13y ago
      Sure, I get that, as I also wrote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6839794 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6839794 But those are messages for the men, not for the woman who applies the lipstick. So is the desire basically to be sexually attractive like a woman? Or falling in love with one's reflection in the mirror?
      - V-2 13y ago
        I find it fairly obvious that natural seating contest must have worked in favor of women more inclined to beautify themselves (whether out of vanity or something else, doesn't matter at all).
        knowitall 13y ago
        Sure, but doesn't that mean that we agree there is no genetic disposition towards liking nail polish/lipstick? The reason people like lipstick is not that they have a genetic disposition to like lipstick, it's because lipstick fakes a sexual signal.

spuz 13y ago

His point is not that fear of falling is learnt by visiting tall buildings but that the logic of his argument is the same as yours. If you can find the flaw in his argument then you should be able to find the flaw in your own.

knowitall 13y ago
Help me out then, because I don't see it? A fall is deadly, whether you fall from a skyscraper or a tree. You mean there might have been something else like nail polish, and people evolved a preference for that? But what would that have been? Some meshed up leaves people put on their finger nails? Apparently there is something like a preference for being a woman, and using nail polish can be a proxy for that. But my point is that it is most likely learned that nail polish has something to do with being a woman. And the mechanism is not "I wish I was a woman so that I could use nail polish", it is more likely "I wish I could be a woman, and nail polish makes me feel like one". Nevertheless, I am also not a biologist, just making things up. But I think some basic logic can be applied by everyone.
- tomp 13y ago
  Nail polish -> healthy nails -> healthy body -> lots of resources & good genetics. Lipstick -> red lips -> sexual symbol (looks similar to vaginal labia) -> more reproductive choice
  - knowitall 13y ago
    Sure, I get that, as I also wrote here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6839794 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6839794 But those are messages for the men, not for the woman who applies the lipstick. So is the desire basically to be sexually attractive like a woman? Or falling in love with one's reflection in the mirror?
    - V-2 13y ago
      I find it fairly obvious that natural seating contest must have worked in favor of women more inclined to beautify themselves (whether out of vanity or something else, doesn't matter at all).
      - knowitall 13y ago
        Sure, but doesn't that mean that we agree there is no genetic disposition towards liking nail polish/lipstick? The reason people like lipstick is not that they have a genetic disposition to like lipstick, it's because lipstick fakes a sexual signal.