[FRIAM] Spandrel

[Eric Charles]

Steve,
Yes exactly! Humans were not selected "for noses." Humans were (the
argument goes) selected for shorter jaws. The "protruding" nose is what you
end up with after selection shrinks the jaw. So, if you notice that humans
have noses, and you jump straight to asking "Why did protruding noses
evolve? What adaptive function do they serve?" you are barking up the wrong
tree. Ditto impacted wisdom teeth. It would be pretty silly to assert that
impacted wisdom teeth were adaptive, even though they likely resulted from
natural selection through the same pressures that led to noses.

Now, the problem with the "nose" example is that, given the variation in
noses around the world, it is actually quite plausible that nose size and
shape IS adaptive. But that's a different issue ;- )
<echarles at american.edu>


On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 12:50 AM Steve Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:

> Nick -
>
> Not to beat a dead Spandrel, but the nose example doesn't wash with me.
>
> In many familiar animals, the nose is perched on the end of a snout, and
> it was the snout that was deprecated in us to the point that the
> nostril-holes with various adaptive properties (downward facing to keep
> rain out, hair-lined and snotty to trap dust and pollen, (mildly)
> turbinated to support humidity/temperature regulation, sensitive to
> support "feeling" things with one's proboscis before we smash the whole
> face into it,  loaded with chemically sensitive cells for "smell", etc)
> are highly diminished compared to various creatures like a daschund or
> an elephant or an anteater.   Our nose still has significant affordances
> similar/familiar to those listed above (serviceable smeller, filter,
> heat/humidity exchanger, etc ) even if it is not at all prehensile or
> particularly discriminating and if humans have a snout at all, it is a
> highly diminished one.
>
> I suspect references to "being nosy" and "sticking our noses in other's
> business" is borrowed from watching our snoutful familiars like horses
> or camels or racoons or dogs "nosing around".  The proboscis of our nose
> *points* where our eyes are looking (somewhat) so that conflation may be
> mildly meaningful?
>
> Does "butting out" connote backing out butt-first when one recognizes
> their nosing around isn't welcome?
>
> <beep><beep><beep>
>
>  - Sneeze
>
>
>
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