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Author Topic:   the evolution of clothes?
coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 507 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 9 of 161 (173246)
01-03-2005 2:15 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by idontknowagoodname
01-02-2005 8:56 PM


Because man's ancestors came from the regions African plains where it was warm and nice. Once some of them started wandering into places where there were winters, it became necessary to insulate with animal skin.
Now the question of why we became "ashamed" of our nakedness is a whole other issue. Perhaps EvC's sociologists could fill us on this one.

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 507 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 14 of 161 (173453)
01-03-2005 1:38 PM
Reply to: Message 12 by Quetzal
01-03-2005 9:05 AM


Quetzal writes:
Pretending to information we don't have is likely to reinforce the YEC view that we're making the whole thing up.
Not necessarily. Colder areas = more clothes. Warmer areas = less clothes. Here, we have the basis for educated guesses. It's a heck of a lot better than blind guesses made by YECs.

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 507 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 15 of 161 (173456)
01-03-2005 1:41 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by crashfrog
01-03-2005 2:21 AM


I once read a book called The Naked Ape by some guy when I was like 15. Can't remember any detail from it. All I remember about this is that the guy presented a theory on why the naked ape began to cover up his sex organ. Apparently, by walking upright, it is impossible not to show your genitals, and this was intimidating within a primitive society.

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 507 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 25 of 161 (173758)
01-04-2005 12:16 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by contracycle
01-04-2005 11:40 AM


contracycle writes:
Yes minimalist clothing is worn in the tropics, but that just raises the question again - if clothing is unnecessary in the tropics, why does anyone where any at all?
Like I said before, perhaps walking upright made it necessary to display the sex organ all the time, and to some societies this became somewhat of an intimidation.
Another reason is christianity.
Anyway, I grew up in Vietnam and I can assure you that it's not warm and humid all the time. Sometimes it gets unbearably cold, and I'm speaking as someone that is used to North American winters.
I'm not convinced "because it is cold" is an adequate answer. It's cold for animals too, yet they either stick it out and adapt or migrate.
Well, if we didn't have an evolutionary advantage such as our brain power, we would probably have stuck it up too. You are forgetting the human factor. It's like asking why aren't we going around raping every female we could find just so we could plant our seeds? Well, we can think.
And of course some don't - some stone age societies consider a rough belt and a feather in the hair to be superbly turned out. There are certain contexts in which even a Zulu wearing only a penis-sheath would be over-dressed. And I point out, it gets pretty cold in Zulu country on the big open plains in winter, and can even snow from time to time.
Well, I guess they decided to stick it up like the animal. Nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, at one point, I said that the cold wasn't the only reason and that my position was nothing more than an educated guess.

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coffee_addict
Member (Idle past 507 days)
Posts: 3645
From: Indianapolis, IN
Joined: 03-29-2004


Message 32 of 161 (174262)
01-05-2005 11:11 PM
Reply to: Message 27 by contracycle
01-05-2005 10:35 AM


contracycle writes:
Clothes are massive social symbols; sumptuary laws have been one of the prime means of constructing class and caste dominance.
Perhaps it is a combination of both protection and class struggle. Caveman A might find a better fur than caveman B and starts to say, "argg..." which translates to "haha, I'm better than you." This eventually leads to the head caveman of the clan demanding the other cavemen to give him the best furs.

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