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I think the teeth/jaw issues are a matter of misuse not flawed design. The switch from hunter-gatherer diet to modern diet was too fast to blame hill-climbing
by ta87878 11y ago
I think the teeth/jaw issues are a matter of misuse not flawed design. The switch from hunter-gatherer diet to modern diet was too fast to blame hill-climbing evolution errors.
- adam-a 11y agoThe article claims the problem is because our brains grew and pushed our teeth forward. Not because of diet.
- ta87878 11y agoI should have included this: <http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19546.abstract> http://www.pnas.org/content/108/49/19546.abstract>. There is evidence that agricultural/industrial diet increases dental crownding. The article included the line "These cusped grinders may have been useful before we learned to cook and process food." which for some reason made me think they were making the same argument.
- mikeash 11y agoThat distinction doesn't make any sense to me. The switch to a modern diet was ultimately a result of evolution. If evolution gave us the ability to radically switch diets, but didn't give us the ability to properly deal with the new diet, then that's an example of evolution producing something flawed.
- ta87878 11y agoI disagree that there is no cutoff point for what can be meaningfully blamed on evolution. Would you say that it is an evolutionary flaw that if we drink too much alcohol we get cirrhosis of the liver and die?
- mikeash 11y agoI would say that it's an evolutionary flaw that many humans want to drink so much alcohol that they die from it. Just like it's an evolutionary flaw that we like consuming much more food than is good for us, simply because that part evolved in a time when it was physically impossible to overeat consistently.