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From: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Newsgroups: net.bio,net.origins
Subject: Re: Bipedalism
Message-ID: <1110@psivax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Apr-86 00:31:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: psivax.1110
Posted: Mon Apr 21 00:31:01 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 27-Apr-86 14:41:08 EDT
References: <487@bcsaic.UUCP> <1002@cybvax0.UUCP> <32@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <204@spar.UUCP>
Reply-To: friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
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In article <204@spar.UUCP> ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis) writes:
>>>Evolution is undirected: ie. it has no long-term goals.
>
>    Survival? Existence? 
>
	Those are not really "goals" they are more like mechanisms.
>
>    Few, if any, animals are as DANGEROUS as humans skilled in the use a
>    club or projectile -- witness the accuracy and power of a typical baseball
>    batter or pitcher. 

	Or as utterly vindictive as a tribe of Humans one of whose
members has been killed.

>    Chimpanzees, in fact, sometimes use sticks in self-defense. The
>    effectiveness of such tactics seems to be quite limited for knuckle
>    walkers. Some argue that our bipedalism evolved simultaneously as our
>    increasing reliance on balance transformed what began as an occasional
>    defense mode into a devastating form of attack.
>
	An additional point. By this argument Human bipedalism becomes
a very effective adaption to *carnivory*! In fact it seems to have
appeared about the time our ancestors shifted from minimal utilization
of meat as a dietary supplement(as in Chimpanzees) to deliberate
hunting for meat as a major portion of the diet(Australopithecus).
-- 

				Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

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