What scientists say....?

Question

Many scientists say that as we are evolving are faces will become smaller in comparison to our skulls. They will become more tucked under our skulls. My face is very broad and round, does this mean I have a more primitive type of skull? Also, many anthropologists claim certain bone structure is "primitive". Does this mean people with more "primitive" bone structure are earlier less evolved types of people, who in turn are less intelligent and less attractive?

I hear that a lot and it pisses me off because that would mean that im dumb and ugly. lol

Answer 1

We have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth, yet we can tell each other apart. That's called "natural variation." When it comes to the rest of our bodies, there's even more variation. Even our concept of beauty changes over the decades. What one generation finds beautiful isn't considered so by the next.

Due to our large global population, human evolution has actually increased. However, this doesn't means we'll have Neanderthals and Archaic Homo sapiens running around together.

What you may have read about "primitive" bone structure is likely that used to discribe our earlier species of humans. However, even withing those species there was wide variation. That explains certain "neanderthal hybrids" that have been found.

To close, let me suggest "intern's disease" or "students' disease" (hypochondriasis of medical students) This occurs when students study a disease and diagnosis themselves has having just that disease! In short be careful of self diagnosis.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you mean by primitive. Do you mean less evolved? Because no one is less evolved than anyone else. It's scientifically impossible.  

Answer 3

No, don't worry about it.  You've been seeing people using technical scientific terms and mixing them with everyday speech and concepts.  

For one thing, it's very doubtful we'll "keep evolving" like that.  There is a well accepted theory that our human face is an ape face that has retained some juvenile growth patterns.  The speculation is that if you projected these patterns, the result would be smaller chins, eyes larger relative to the face, etc.  (The pattern is called neoteny.)  But it was a theoretical projection to illustrate neoteny, by exaggerating it, not a real theory about future evolution.  

The word "primitive";  it is used in a technical sense to discuss characteristics that appeared earlier in the evolution of a species, and were retained to different extent by certain strains of the human race.  It means nothing in terms of discussing modern people of the same and different races, at least the way you are worried about.  For one thing, primitive just means earlier in this sense, not more crude or dumb or ugly.  I wish I knew the subject better so I could explain it better.  You could try looking up neoteny.  Also this is covered by Stephen Jay Gould, I think in "The Mismeasure of Man".  

That book covers a lot of ways in which scientific findings and terms have been misused big-time to put down non-Europeans.  Modern research in many fields shows that there is no difference in any individual's IQ based on race, etc.

Anyone bothers you with simple-minded misuse of science, just tell them to get a real eduacation.

btw, the projection of neoteny patterns to really small chins and really large eyes is where the visual concept of how "advanced aliens" would look.  Pretty odd looking!

Answer 4

Maybe we are evolving that way, but it takes so long to notice appreciable differences, your or me or our kids or even our great, great grandkids will all look basically the same. Look at old pictures of medieval Eurpeans, they are hundreds of years old and still look more or less like us.

You're not primitive, just different, as is everyone else. I'm sure you could find something "primitive" looking about every person. I have long arms, sometimes I'm more orangutanish than human I think.  :-)

Answer 5

massive amounts of DNA... you change one thing and another could be 360 degrees different or even unaffected.  Personally I think people with uni-brows are generally less intelligent (and definitely less attractive)