Modern man 'a wimp', says anthropologist

[Jason California]

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/8/2009/10/500x_evolution.jpg



Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100 and 200 metres record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions.
Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.
Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.
These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled "Manthropology" and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern


More in link
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/modern-man-a-wimp-says-anthropologist-1802501.html

[Ashwin Pande]

They also didn't have lighters and cigarettes. Fuck those assholes.

[Supreme Convoy]

Let's see if Peter McAllister can say that to my face.

(And isn't Peter McAllister from Home Alone?)

[Treacle]

Good marketing.

[Gregory]

And how many cavemen were anthropologists?

[Foolish Mortal]

I'm sure prehistoric humans were physically superior simply because they had to be to survive. When you needed to chase down wild animals for food, or be fast enough to escape ferocious predators to keep from being their food. I'm sure their immune systems were substantially more hardy than today's humans too.

I don't need to be an anthropologist to figure that out.

[EdNEMO]

Most people today don't have a reason to push themselves. That is the only way to get to a level of strength and toughness. You have to deal with situations to become tough. You have to work to be strong. If you are not putting yourself in the position to do those things you will never get tough or strong. Danger gets the blood pumping and the mind working and that's how you learn you can do those things. But, kids today are coddled as the world is trying to make the world a safe Nerf place where no one gets hurt.

[Black Roman]

How dare they! I'm gonna go home, get my pen and write them a very stern letter!

[Treacle]

Most people today don't have a reason to push themselves. That is the only way to get to a level of strength and toughness. You have to deal with situations to become tough. You have to work to be strong. If you are not putting yourself in the position to do those things you will never get tough or strong. Danger gets the blood pumping and the mind working and that's how you learn you can do those things. But, kids today are coddled as the world is trying to make the world a safe Nerf place where no one gets hurt.

Eh...I get what you're saying here, but I think it's less about the need to coddle, and more about the division (and subsequent super-specialization) of labor...which is one of the cornerstones of civilization in the anthropological sense.

There's no reason for people to spend hours and hours building the kind of strength, dexterity, and speed our ancestors had to have just to survive. To function in today's society, that time is better spent learning how to do other, admittedly more intellectual, things.

Our ancestors also had extraordinarily low life expectancies. Does the author spend any time talking about that, I wonder?

[EmarAndZeb]

Man, when anthropologists wax nostalgic for the glory days of tough, manly men, they don't do it half-assed...

[RegularJoe]

didn't clint eastwood say this months ago?

and doesn't this boil down to: astronauts vs cavemen. who would win?

[Hate_Prime]

Yeah well, I can do math in my head, so eat my ass primitives.

Modern man is fucktons smarter than prehistoric man is stronger.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7099/warninggodsjudgement.jpg

... though there are exceptions

[Blue Flash]

Most people today don't have a reason to push themselves. That is the only way to get to a level of strength and toughness. You have to deal with situations to become tough. You have to work to be strong. If you are not putting yourself in the position to do those things you will never get tough or strong. Danger gets the blood pumping and the mind working and that's how you learn you can do those things. But, kids today are coddled as the world is trying to make the world a safe Nerf place where no one gets hurt.

Danger doesn't get the mind working. No. Sorry. Adrenaline takes over. The mind works best before and after moments of danger. It's why people like you teach self-defense the way you do, by molding reflexive instincts that take little thoughts to enact into students and the reason why teaching responses to danger have always best taught during times of peace, against opponents that don't actually want to kill you, and with "softened" instruments so that you don't die accidentally during instruction.

[Treacle]

Yeah well, I can do math in my head, so eat my ass primitives.

Modern man is fucktons smarter than prehistoric man is stronger.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7099/warninggodsjudgement.jpg

... though there are exceptions

Individually, probably none of us is any smarter than prehistoric man, and considering how the average person today can't adapt to even the smallest life change, you can argue that we're actually less smart.

We just have access to more accrued knowledge. :)

[TimWithNumbers]

From that list of "Random Thoughts From 25-35 Year Olds"...

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically
fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all
know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards
or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

[mike black]

didn't clint eastwood say this months ago?

and doesn't this boil down to: astronauts vs cavemen. who would win?

http://www.rayguns-r-us.com/images/raygun1a-02.jpg

I think we know who wins.

[Jason California]

http://www.rayguns-r-us.com/images/raygun1a-02.jpg

I think we know who wins.


Not if the caveman is faster and stronger, and can wrestle the gun away from him before he shoots. I am pretty sure the cavemans danger instinct is going to perform better than the modern man.

[mike black]

Not if the caveman is faster and stronger, and can wrestle the gun away from him before he shoots. I am pretty sure the cavemans danger instinct is going to perform better than the modern man.

First, that's retarded. If a Spaceman is 10 - 15 feet away from the Caveman, the Caveman is fucked. Simple as that.

[Blue Flash]

Not if the caveman is faster and stronger, and can wrestle the gun away from him before he shoots. I am pretty sure the cavemans danger instinct is going to perform better than the modern man.

:no:

Why would a caveman know what a ray-gun is?

[Black Roman]

First, that's retarded. If a Spaceman is 10 - 15 feet away from the Caveman, the Caveman is fucked. Simple as that.

This Just In . . .



"World's Nerdiest Argument Erupts . . . None Survive."

[Dave S.]

Individually, probably none of us is any smarter than prehistoric man, and considering how the average person today can't adapt to even the smallest life change, you can argue that we're actually less smart.

We just have access to more accrued knowledge. :)

I don't think that's true at all. The first part. I think we adapt very well to conditions prehistoric man can't dream of. And we can grasp concepts that they could never accept. We can think far outside the box. And we can LEARN much faster.

I guess I'd be curious to see if we had a prehistoric baby and raised it, sent it to school, etc... Would it be able to learn like modern children. That would be the real test. But I think that depends on what you consider prehistoric man as well. Homo Erectus is considered prehistoric man. But we could really only consider Homo Sapiens in this thought experiment.

[Jason California]

First, that's retarded. If a Spaceman is 10 - 15 feet away from the Caveman, the Caveman is fucked. Simple as that.

You assume that is how he would handle it. Who says he wont underestimate the caceman and get sloppy thinking it is just a stupid cavemna?


:no:

Why would a caveman know what a ray-gun is?

body language and other things would be picked up on by instinct letting him know it was something to be concerned about. especially if it is being pointed at him.


I am not saying that the caveman is going to win, just that the ray gun alone does nto make it a foregone conclusion.

[Blue Flash]

You assume that is how he would handle it. Who says he wont underestimate the caceman and get sloppy thinking it is just a stupid cavemna?



body language and other things would be picked up on by instinct letting him know it was something to be concerned about. especially if it is being pointed at him.


I am not saying that the caveman is going to win, just that the ray gun alone does nto make it a foregone conclusion.

Why would a caveman think an object being pointed at him by some alien creature it has never seen before constitutes danger when the mere presence of said alien should invoke an immediate, terror-filled flight response?

I think you are imaging a scenario where the caveman has no choice but to attack the spaceman, or one in which he sneaks up on the spaceman.

[mike black]

This Just In . . .



"World's Nerdiest Argument Erupts . . . None Survive."

This is far from the nerdiest argument I've ever had.

[mike black]

You assume that is how he would handle it. Who says he wont underestimate the caceman and get sloppy thinking it is just a stupid cavemna?

I think you're assuming that the caveman has some sort of preternatural speed that is faster than a fucking raygun. Caveman = Cavedust.

[Jonathan Callan]

Danger doesn't get the mind working. No. Sorry. Adrenaline takes over. The mind works best before and after moments of danger. It's why people like you teach self-defense the way you do, by molding reflexive instincts that take little thoughts to enact into students and the reason why teaching responses to danger have always best taught during times of peace, against opponents that don't actually want to kill you, and with "softened" instruments so that you don't die accidentally during instruction.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

[Hate_Prime]

body language and other things would be picked up on by instinct letting him know it was something to be concerned about. especially if it is being pointed at him.

That's stretching it I think. Unless there's something else the caveman encountered other things with similar movements to a person pointing a gun being a threat to it, he's hosed.

Also I'm assuming the caveman is the home team? Because if the match is the astronaut's turf, forget it.

[Treacle]

I don't think that's true at all. The first part. I think we adapt very well to conditions prehistoric man can't dream of. And we can grasp concepts that they could never accept. We can think far outside the box. And we can LEARN much faster.

I guess I'd be curious to see if we had a prehistoric baby and raised it, sent it to school, etc... Would it be able to learn like modern children. That would be the real test. But I think that depends on what you consider prehistoric man as well. Homo Erectus is considered prehistoric man. But we could really only consider Homo Sapiens in this thought experiment.

And prehistoric man adapted to conditions we can't even dream of. If that logic works one way, then it works the other. How do you know we LEARN much faster today?

The brain capacity of prehistoric (as in "before history") Homo Sapiens and modern day Homo Sapiens is the same. Considering that humans aren't born with instincts that go much further than crying and suckling, there's no reason whatsoever to believe a baby from the Ice Age would have any trouble being raised in the modern age. That's part of why pre-historic and historic (i.e. current) Homo Sapiens are the same species.

[Jacques Toochay]

I don't think that's true at all. The first part. I think we adapt very well to conditions prehistoric man can't dream of. And we can grasp concepts that they could never accept. We can think far outside the box. And we can LEARN much faster.

I guess I'd be curious to see if we had a prehistoric baby and raised it, sent it to school, etc... Would it be able to learn like modern children. That would be the real test. But I think that depends on what you consider prehistoric man as well. Homo Erectus is considered prehistoric man. But we could really only consider Homo Sapiens in this thought experiment.

I think it just comes down to how you define "prehistoric" man. If you are referring to an earlier species of man, then what you've said above is probably mostly true.
But if you are simply referring to early homo sapiens (which is easy to do since homo sapiens have been around for about 200,000 years, well before any recorded history), then I think Treacle is right on the money. The only advantage we have on them is accumulated knowledge, a fairly robust system for disseminating that knowledge, and much longer life spans. Which are huge advantages, of course.

But they were probably much tougher and stronger than us (as ednemo said) since their very lives often depended on their athletic abilities. Thank the gods that's not true today.
:lol:

[mike black]

That's stretching it I think. Unless there's something else the caveman encountered other things with similar movements to a person pointing a gun being a threat to it, he's hosed.

Also I'm assuming the caveman is the home team? Because if the match is the astronaut's turf, forget it.

Well, little known fact that Cavemen can breathe in space.

[Treacle]

But they were probably much tougher and stronger than us (as ednemo said) since their very lives often depended on their athletic abilities. Thank the gods that's not true today.
:lol:

I know, right! For example, I'm near-sighted. I'd have been saber-toothed tiger food back in the day.

[WillieLee]

It seems like the anthropologist is identifying with prehistoric man in order to avoid the reality that modern man considers him a wimp.

[Jacques Toochay]

Well, little known fact that Cavemen can breathe in space.

Wait. Cavemen are superstrong, superfast, keenly intuitive about ray guns, and can breath in space.

Is Lex Luthor also their natural enemy?
:mistrust:

[Jacques Toochay]

I know, right! For example, I'm near-sighted. I'd have been saber-toothed tiger food back in the day.


I'd list my shortcomings but there's a word limit on posts.
Needless to say, I would have been dino food in no time.

At least, that's what Professor Krutch told me in history class yesterday!

[Blue Flash]

Wait. Cavemen are superstrong, superfast, keenly intuitive about ray guns, and can breath in space.

Is Lex Luthor also their natural enemy?
:mistrust:

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc28/idol-head/VandalSavage.jpg

[RoShambo]

Yeah well, I can do math in my head, so eat my ass primitives.

Modern man is fucktons smarter than prehistoric man is stronger.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7099/warninggodsjudgement.jpg

... though there are exceptions

I read "Witches" on his sign as "Bitches", and "Baby Killers" as "Baby Kittens".
Also why is every name plural except "LIAR"?
There's only one liar in his world?

[mike black]

Wait. Cavemen are superstrong, superfast, keenly intuitive about ray guns, and can breath in space.

Is Lex Luthor also their natural enemy?
:mistrust:

DUN. DUN. DUNNNN.

http://www.sunnybreaks.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dchip.jpg

[Jacques Toochay]

DUN. DUN. DUNNNN.

http://www.sunnybreaks.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dchip.jpg

I knew that prairie dog would pick up on what I was saying.
He's a sharp one, he is.

[mike black]

I knew that prairie dog would pick up on what I was saying.
He's a sharp one, he is.

He's the world's greatest detective, afterall.

[Boris the Blade]

Yeah, well Neanderthal man was a fuckin' moron. He couldn't build a car, or use a computer, or nothin'! And also, my dad could beat up his dad.

[stevapalooza]

Someone should write a story about a man who builds a time machine, and every era he goes back to he just gets the crap beat out of him (sometimes by children).

[Jason California]

Someone should write a story about a man who builds a time machine, and every era he goes back to he just gets the crap beat out of him (sometimes by children).


Why would he keep going back in time?

[Boris the Blade]

Someone should write a story about a man who builds a time machine, and every era he goes back to he just gets the crap beat out of him (sometimes by children).
Rob Schneider, are you listening?

[stevapalooza]

Rob Schneider, are you listening?

I'd pay good money to watch Rob Schneider gets pummeled by people in various historical costumes.

[stevapalooza]

Why would he keep going back in time?

Maybe he's searching for a time when people won't beat him up. He's an optimist.

[EmarAndZeb]

Also, the machine is stuck in reverse.

[Jacques Toochay]

And he's got a chimpanzee sidekick who makes funny faces.

[stevapalooza]

And he's got a chimpanzee sidekick who makes funny faces.

Better yet, an orangutan! It could be a two-fisted, time-travellin' Any Which Way But Loose!

[The Zevad]

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

We must all follow the golden path.

[Jacques Toochay]

Better yet, an orangutan! It could be a two-fisted, time-travellin' Any Which Way But Loose!

Can't be an orangutan.
Gingers aren't allowed to time travel.
:no:

[Ryan Elliott]

You assume that is how he would handle it. Who says he wont underestimate the caceman and get sloppy thinking it is just a stupid cavemna?


Just because the lion isn't as smart as I am doesn't mean I don't think he's dangerous.

Astronaut wins.

Further proof, go point a regular old gun at a young chimp in the wild. He won't perceive that as a threat. But all the others, once they figure out he's dead, will.

Existence. Trial and Error for 1000's of years.

[stevapalooza]

Can't be an orangutan.
Gingers aren't allowed to time travel.
:no:

That kind of racism belongs in the 1800's!
So let's go to the 1800's!

[Jason California]

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2001_The_Animal/rob_schneider_the_animal_001.jpg

[R0cketFr0g]

Batman would punch the Astronaut in the throat, take his raygun and beat the Caveman mercilessly about the head with the raygun butt.

Batman wins.

Batman would also kick the shit out of Thomas Jefferson.

[Jonathan Callan]

We must all follow the golden path.

I'm glad somebody appreciated the reference.

[dmh3000]

Batman would punch the Astronaut in the throat, take his raygun and beat the Caveman mercilessly about the head with the raygun butt.

Batman wins.

Batman would also kick the shit out of Thomas Jefferson.

Is there anything Batman can't do?