This may not come as relief to those who suffer from chronic back pain, slip disc, herniated disc, etc., but at least you know who to blame. (When you are in pain, it is good to curse someone).
So here goes ...
The human spine, for example, is a lousy solution to the problem of supporting the load in an upright, two-legged creature. It would have made a lot more sense to distribute our weight across four equal cross-braced columns. Instead, all our weight is borne by a single column, putting enormous stress on the spine. We managed to survive upright (freeing out hands), but the cost for many people is agonizing back pain. We are struck with this barely adequate solution not because it is the best possible way to support the weight of a biped, but because the spine's structure evolved from that of four-legged creatures, and standing up poorly is (for creatures like us, who use tools) better than not standing up at all.
So you know who to blame.
Evolution!
And no. I have no idea if Gary Marcus, the author of this delightful little book called Kluge
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2 comments:
I have a bad back and it is quite debilitating. Plus, for those who know, the strength and flexibility of the spine is a crucual indicator of how young one actually is. So, in any case, one is feeling lousy about the whole thing. Plus there are people who say things like, you know what your posture is not alright, you dont rest your back adequately, you dont sit right, stand right, sneeze right...blah blah. So now in my defence, i could say that the human spine is a design flaw and that the structure is not enrirely tailor made for two-legged creatures. But considering the wise cracks (and they have stronger backs) i know, i am sure they will end up saying, 'you have some growing up to do before you evolve into a strong biped, like us'
I have a bad back and it is quite debilitating. Plus, for those who know, the strength and flexibility of the spine is a crucual indicator of how young one actually is. So, in any case, one is feeling lousy about the whole thing. Plus there are people who say things like, you know what your posture is not alright, you dont rest your back adequately, you dont sit right, stand right, sneeze right...blah blah. So now in my defence, i could say that the human spine is a design flaw and that the structure is not enrirely tailor made for two-legged creatures. But considering the wise cracks (and they have stronger backs) i know, i am sure they will end up saying, 'you have some growing up to do before you evolve into a strong biped, like us'
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