Questions of a weird mind

[Elemental]

There's a joke in Germany: What does a philosopher with a job say to a philosopher without one?
"Do you want fries with that?"

We have that joke here in Australia as well.

Also, a question to awaken your minds...
Why do we laugh?
Note: This isn't a question on whether or not humans are the only creatures that appreciate humour. It's about why humour exists and why we laugh at it.


And as for the bread thing, adding yeast is a modern thing. Before people understood microbiology, they had no idea why some bread rises and some bread doesn't.
What they used to do is leave it somewhere, and eventually enough yeast spores would get into the bread and start eating the sugar in the dough.
In places where flat bread is more common, that's probably a result of the air being too dry for yeast. Something along those lines.

[thubby]

Also, a question to awaken your minds...
Why do we laugh?

i think that question is too small.

why are any emotions linked to universal outward expression?

blind people and newborns smile when they're happy, cry when they're upset, etc. despite never seeing it.

[Traab]

i think that question is too small.

why are any emotions linked to universal outward expression?

blind people and newborns smile when they're happy, cry when they're upset, etc. despite never seeing it.

Body language is instinctual. Its a throw back to the days before we had a spoken language, and like all animals, we communicated through body language and an assortment of odd grunts.

[Ravens_cry]

Why do female humans have breasts? I don't mean mammaries, all mammals have them, it's what defines the type in fact.
But only humans females have them always noticeable, unlike other mammals where they are generally only visible during pregnancy and nursing. Look at a female gorrilla. Except when she has a baby gorilla to care of, she's as flat as two raisins on a breadboard.
According to Wikipedia, Bonobo, also known as pygmy chimpanzees, also exhibit this trait, though to a much lesser extent.
Still, why?

[Kobold-Bard]

Body language is instinctual. Its a throw back to the days before we had a spoken language, and like all animals, we communicated through body language and an assortment of odd grunts.

Try to cash a traveller's cheque in a country where you don't speak the language (Japan in my case). You very quickly fall back into the point & grunt mentality.

[Elemental]

Okay then, the bigger question is not why we laugh, but why humour exists.
As far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be much point to it.

And as for your question Ravens_Cry:
I'm not really sure, but it's probably to show that the individual possessing them is of childbearing age. Aside from that, I can't think of anything.

[razark]

i want to know who figured out bread.
it's not exactly something you can accidentally make like cheese or alcohol.

People prepared a porridge of grains in water. Someone spilled their porridge on the hot rock next to the fire, and tasted the result. Naturally occurring yeasts found their way into the mix eventually.

Why do female humans have breasts

Humans walk upright. The males could no longer make sexual selections based off of the buttocks of the females in the manner that many other primates do, so the breasts developed as a "in your face" sort of display.

[thubby]

Body language is instinctual. Its a throw back to the days before we had a spoken language, and like all animals, we communicated through body language and an assortment of odd grunts.

well, yeah, i figured that much. but how did that happen. projecting and understanding body language are 2 distinct functions

[Traab]

Try to cash a traveller's cheque in a country where you don't speak the language (Japan in my case). You very quickly fall back into the point & grunt mentality.

Exactly, because body language is universal. Everyone understands that when you point at something, you are indicating it in some way. Rub your hand across your belly and lick your lips while smiling? You enjoyed what you just ate. There isnt a person above the mentally handicapped level on earth that wouldnt understand exactly what you were trying to say there. It may be harder with more complex things you want to express, but it can be done. Body language crosses all language barriers.

[Traab]

well, yeah, i figured that much. but how did that happen. projecting and understanding body language are 2 distinct functions

You mean how did body language develop? Or real language? Thats a bit beyond me, as body language comes from times before sentience. Its not exactly something I would even know how to BEGIN researching.

[irenicObserver]

This is one that's plagued me for a while.

Do you think in your own voice?

I generally think in my own voice, mostly for my own decisions. I play my own Devil's Advocate. But when it comes to something for school I think in the voice of my teacher.

[Eldan]

Why do female humans have breasts? I don't mean mammaries, all mammals have them, it's what defines the type in fact.
But only humans females have them always noticeable, unlike other mammals where they are generally only visible during pregnancy and nursing. Look at a female gorrilla. Except when she has a baby gorilla to care of, she's as flat as two raisins on a breadboard.
According to Wikipedia, Bonobo, also known as pygmy chimpanzees, also exhibit this trait, though to a much lesser extent.
Still, why?

The explanation I heard is that it has to do with bipedalism. The child can't really access a nipple that is not hanging down. If human females were standing upright and the chest was flat, they couldn't really drink. Apes mostly nurse when standing on all fours, with the child hanging below them. Humans do it sitting or standing, so a hanging or malleable is necessary.

The explanation I heard given for humour is that it basically serves to defuse potentially dangerous situations. The example Stephen Fry gave on Q.I. was:
"Oh my god! I heard a noise! It must be a tiger!" - "Oh, hahaha, I'm so silly, it's just a squirrel."
Situation defused, everyone can calm down.

[Yora]

I was just conducting experiments on the flamability of olive oil in my kitchen.
Now my whole apartment smells, in what I have to admit is not an entirely unpleasant way.

Exactly, because body language is universal.

Even stranger it appears to be shared with canines and felines. After years of interpreting the body language of cats and dogs, the body language and emotions seem to match those of humans.
Which I think is not unreasonable. After all, all land predators, which includes primates are competitors who share overlapping territories. It is important to be able to read a competitor of another species, to learn if he wants to challenge you for your meal or just happens to be in the area and doesn't want any trouble.
It would be a waste to flee from an animal much larger than you, if it currently isn't in the mood to fight you for your kill. But if you just leave it there, it will be happy to help itself. However, if it really wants your kill really badly and would kill you for it, it would be too dangerous to stick around for too long. So a universal language among top level predators, which really comes down to apes, dogs, cats, and bears, would make a lot of sense. Helps avoid unneccessary fights, but keeps you alive when you're outmatched.

well, yeah, i figured that much. but how did that happen. projecting and understanding body language are 2 distinct functions

There's a difference between instinctual and aquired body language. Some are universal, many others are not. The later are simply learned by oversavtion, just like spoken language, and are in fact sign language, which we happen to use subconsciously, since our bodies use many of them automatically.

Instinctual body language is a result of evolution. At the beginning (of this purely made up hypothetical case), we have lots of creatures who have no way of communicating their intentions to each other. Now there is one really tough big guy, who always opens his eyes wide and furrows his brow before he is beating someone to death who annoys him. Lots of people died, because they had no idea he was getting pissed. However, because of mutations, some people are born with the reflex to get scared when they see that face. They run away, so they don't get killed. Some of their children inherit this mutations, some don't. The former never get strangled to death, but the later ones mostly do. Repeat for billions of years and everyone alive has that gene that makes them back off when someone is making that face at them.
Also, people who have the gene to make this face are less frequently ending up in fights where they murder people (because most people run away), so they can live better in the group and have better chances to spread their "I kill you" face genes.

[Ravens_cry]

The explanation I heard is that it has to do with bipedalism. The child can't really access a nipple that is not hanging down. If human females were standing upright and the chest was flat, they couldn't really drink. Apes mostly nurse when standing on all fours, with the child hanging below them. Humans do it sitting or standing, so a hanging or malleable is necessary.

The trouble with that explanation is it doesn't explain the crux of the question, why are they big, even when not nursing?

[Maxios]

This is one that's plagued me for a while.

Do you think in your own voice?

I do, most of the time.

[Eldan]

Because most of the time, a human female would have been nursing pretty much constantly until rather recently. Or be pregnant.

[Yora]

Peacocking.

Just like long hair (which in humans grows much longer than in any other animal), an ample bossom displays to the world that you are healthy and well fed. Same goes for peacock feathers and lots of other unneccesarily overblown body features.
When you're malnurished or sick, it shows in your body.

Males want women who bear children that will survive to pass on their genes, females want men who will bring the most food on the table and other luxuries that ensure she can raise her children to survive and pass on their genes.
And then it's again evolution: As a result, the most healthy males get the first pick and want to chose the most healthy females. Which means you get children with healthy fathers and mothers, and children with sickly fathers and mothers. The healthy children survive, the sickly ones don't. Which means that genes that make the body look very healthy (long hair, big breasts) can continue, and those genes that make a body look sickly die out. Repeat this process for thousands of generations and you end up with rediculous long hair and big boobs.

[Kobold-Bard]

New Question:

How do we know that someone hasn't invented time travel already & they are constantly screwing around in the past? To us the past would always be the past, but for all we know originally Germany won WW2 or reality tv was a failure or some breeds of dinosaurs survived & my manager used to be a velociraptor.

[Yora]

Answer: We can't.

[Traab]

New Question:

How do we know that someone hasn't invented time travel already & they are constantly screwing around in the past? To us the past would always be the past, but for all we know originally Germany won WW2 or reality tv was a failure or some breeds of dinosaurs survived & my manager used to be a velociraptor.

As Yora said, we cant, but it goes beyond that. Depending on the school of time travel thought you believe in, some joker going back and changing things could have absolutely no effect on us, because it doesnt change our timeline, it creates a new one for itself. Basically a new branch, or a thread on the spiderweb of the multiverse. So now, to use one of your examples, there is a world where dinosaurs still exist, and our world where they dont.

[Karoht]

As Yora said, we cant, but it goes beyond that. Depending on the school of time travel thought you believe in, some joker going back and changing things could have absolutely no effect on us, because it doesnt change our timeline, it creates a new one for itself. Basically a new branch, or a thread on the spiderweb of the multiverse. So now, to use one of your examples, there is a world where dinosaurs still exist, and our world where they dont.

And the schools of thought on time travel is about as diverse as the schools of thought on god. But if you want a good read on the subject, check out the quantum physics version which, if I recall, does the multiple timelines thing. Then there's all the paradox stuff, but that stuff honestly does go into absurdity in some cases.

For purposes of entertainment only, I still enjoy the Back to the Future version of timeline alteration. For purposes of intrigue, I kinda sorta like how Source Code did it.

[Hazzardevil]

Related to your last question. How long did it take for early man to figure out what was safe to eat and what wasnt? Did someone pick up say, a carrot, and eat the leaves, then after that was terrible, eat the root? I know there are some edible plants that have poisonous parts, who convinced their buddies to try the rest after the first guy died or got horribly ill?

no idea, but it would have been a woman in your example because men were amost exclusively carnivores andwmen vice versa.

Why do female humans have breasts? I don't mean mammaries, all mammals have them, it's what defines the type in fact.
But only humans females have them always noticeable, unlike other mammals where they are generally only visible during pregnancy and nursing. Look at a female gorrilla. Except when she has a baby gorilla to care of, she's as flat as two raisins on a breadboard.
According to Wikipedia, Bonobo, also known as pygmy chimpanzees, also exhibit this trait, though to a much lesser extent.
Still, why?

I think it's because women never evolved to only have them when they needed them, becuasewmen never did anything that dangerous where their breasts would likely get in the way.

How much is mens obession with large breasts stereotype and how much is it true?
Why has the general populations opinoin of abeautiful woman gone from obese to anorexic?

[Ravens_cry]

For less headache but more heartache, I stick to the Quantumly Brittle Multiple Branches theory of time travel.
Simply put, any change, including the presence of a time traveller, creates a new parallel. It might not be noticeable if you go into the future again, but any real alteration means it will be thanks to the butterfly effect.
But either way, your original parallel ain't seen you again.

[Themrys]

Why has the general populations opinoin of abeautiful woman gone from obese to anorexic?

Because the "general population" you are thinking of has enough to eat. Now, being able to withstand the temptation is a sign of psychological health. In former times, it was more the question of being intelligent enough to get lots of food or healthy enough to gain weight quickly.


Well, no, women definitely do not have breasts because we didn't dangerous things. This is utter nonsense on so many levels I don't even know where to start.

Just this: Do you really think there was such a thing as a safe place to stay when human beings evolved?


Like any other useless feature, breasts probably evolved because the opposite sex found them attractive. Like peacock feathers. (Which also didn't evolve because peacocks have such a nice, dangerless life)

[Gnoman]

Related to your last question. How long did it take for early man to figure out what was safe to eat and what wasnt? Did someone pick up say, a carrot, and eat the leaves, then after that was terrible, eat the root? I know there are some edible plants that have poisonous parts, who convinced their buddies to try the rest after the first guy died or got horribly ill?

Actually, it's quite possible to gain some idea of weather something unknown is safe to eat without suffering too much in the way of ill effects. First is smell. If it smells poisonous, don't eat it. After that is taste. If it has a numbing or excessively bitter/acrid taste, don't eat it. If it seems ok, consume small amounts and keep an awareness of any unusual effects it may have. After enough such testing, the mystery food can be positively identified as safe or unsafe.

[Starwulf]

Actually, it's quite possible to gain some idea of weather something unknown is safe to eat without suffering too much in the way of ill effects. First is smell. If it smells poisonous, don't eat it. After that is taste. If it has a numbing or excessively bitter/acrid taste, don't eat it. If it seems ok, consume small amounts and keep an awareness of any unusual effects it may have. After enough such testing, the mystery food can be positively identified as safe or unsafe.

What about stuff like Blowfish(I think that's it). That one fish that if you prepare it wrong, or eat any but one specific part, it's pretty much death within a matter of minutes? How in the world did someone eventually figure out that there was actually an edible part to that fish when any other part would kill you damn quickly? The trial and error method doesn't seem like it would work there, because, ya know, first time someone tried it, they probably died. I know I certainly wouldn't volunteer to eat something that I just watched kill someone else.

[Hazzardevil]

[QUOTE=Gnoman;12650107]After that is taste. If it has a numbing or excessively bitter/acrid taste, don't eat it.[quote]

Then why do people persist in the belief that we should eat burssel sprouts?

[Yora]

People eat the most disgusting things. Particularly in Northest Europe and Southern China. Even the Chinese think cantonese food is disgusting.

[Eldan]

I remember that from Thailand. To quote our Guide:
"I know tourists expect to eat some weird stuff when they come to Asia, so I have found a Cantonese market stall that sells insects..."

[H Birchgrove]

I remember that from Thailand. To quote our Guide:
"I know tourists expect to eat some weird stuff when they come to Asia, so I have found a Cantonese market stall that sells insects..."

When I was in Thailand, I ate lasagne and hamburgers (and other meals, but those are those I can remember).

Granted, I was 7-8 years old, and would probably have not been able to eat Thai food, given how strong their spices can be.