(no subject)

[sillygoosegirl]

Speaking of intelligent design, what's up with having a baby with a giant brain born out of a pelvis that is supporting an upright body. That doesn't strike me as particularly intelligent... more like an unfortunate artifact from a simpler time. Personally, if I was the intelligent designer, we'd have zippers in our bellies.

There was a thing on the radio about studying genomes, particularly comparing the human one with the opossum one. They referred to humans as being however many bazillion years more advanced than marsupials... and don't get me wrong, I love my thumbs and spoken language, but there are some things where I think the marsupials are way ahead of us. I think only a man would say we were strictly more advanced.

Comments

[willworker.livejournal.com]

Steve

[dclayh.livejournal.com]

Whatever, male nipples are awesome. Not necessary, perhaps, but awesome.

[sophiedoph.livejournal.com]

LOL! I agree! Excellent observation. :) :)

[istgut.livejournal.com]

The bible teaches us that the pain of childbirth is punishment for Eve's doings in The Garden.

It is the same reason that you have a feud with snakes.

So, Intelligent Vindictive Design.

[willskyfall.livejournal.com]

Awww, but taking the bible literally is no fun. :)

I can't help but feel that passage of Genesis, read a certain way, is a tacit acknowledgement of the link between intelligence and difficulties in childbirth. I suppose it depends on how perceptive our ancestors were about their own physiology . . .

[willskyfall.livejournal.com]

Curse my 12:30a shorthand!

By "intelligence" I generally meant the sort of self-awareness and leap in perception that leads to cave painting, jewelry, and fire--not to mention religion.

(The sort of jump which, if Genesis is to be believed, occured when Adam and Eve ate the apple, and which may have corresponded in our evolutionary history to a critical increase in brain-mass.)

[sillygoosegirl.livejournal.com]

Well, I've certainly always (at least since I was old enough to think about such things) interpretted it as an acknowledgement of the connection between self awareness and many other difficulties that come with it. I'd never considered that it might also be making a reference to child birth... or evolution, that's interesting. I'd always considered it more as a coming of age story... more about puberty.

But then again, the literal interpretation is pretty entertaining. Clearly we did have zippers in our tummies before eve ate the apple!

[zathrus.livejournal.com]

Leaving aside the intelligent design and interpretation of Genesis questions, which I could write articles about if I had time, there are a number of issues with having zippers in our bellies. Once I became pregnant, I became aware of the intense work done by the abdominal muscles -- they are, for example, critically important to such basic things as walking, getting out of bed, etc. Simply being pregnant is already pretty hard on them; I can't imagine what would happen if we then tried to decrease their structural integrity by adding a zipper (or other mode of opening).

BTW, this realization also increases my determination to avoid c-section births whenever possible; that recovery time is awful!

But yes, the giant brain issue is very real. I have heard a few people voice a theory that makes some sense to me -- that like marsupials, we humans give birth to essentially premature infants, because for us it's the only way to get the baby out while the head is still small enough to fit. Unlike marsupials, we are not equipped with built-in pockets to carry our premature infants in, so we have to use our arms or invent some other device to help hold them. Thankfully, we have big brains to enable us to overcome the problems caused by having big brains. :)

Newt

[zathrus.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard some birth stories that came very close to childbirth without pain -- that didn't involve any form of drugs! One in particular that I remember involved the mother realizing she was in early labor, lying down to get some rest, falling asleep(!), and waking up at the late pushing stage. She delivered her own baby; one of her older children called her husband and the midwife for her, who showed up in time to help her get cleaned up and back in bed with her new baby. So it's possible that before the Fall, we didn't have zippers, but birth simply worked better than it does now (along with everything else -- after all, no one died before the Fall, so there's a whole host of problems that can be ruled out right there).

Newt

[2gouda4u.livejournal.com]

Marsupials are awesome. I remember reading how joeys (or whatever they're called when they first emerge) are responsible for climbing to the pouch and getting settled after they are "born" - how cool is that! And mothers' bodies can slow or abort joey development, based on her current nutrition level (or something like that). Don't know if it's any sort of conscious control, or just the body's natural response to lean times, but it's pretty sensible. I really shouldn't be spouting off "facts" I barely remember without doing some research and providing citations - but oh well.

Of course, it might get sort of annoying having your child climb into a pocket in your stomach for a few years...