modern man is a wimp

[DCortez]

According to this.


Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.


[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59D0BR20091014?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11604&sp=true[/URL]

 

[MadMo44Mag]

We dam the luck!

 

[M. Sage]

BS. We're far bigger and stronger now than at pretty much any time previous. I heard stories of WWII GIs trying to put on medieval suits of armor while they were in Europe, only to find that they were far too big to get into them... I remember trying on my grandfather's uniform from WWII as a teenager and being way too big for it.

We can't withstand privations nearly as well as they could, but I doubt that a half-starved primitive could walk for miles on end through the mountains carrying a 70 lb pack... but I have, and I did it at age 30, an age that those people would consider "one foot in the grave".

 

[DCortez]

Methinks M.Sage has been beat up by a cave woman.

 

[android]

I did it at age 30, an age that those people would consider "one foot in the grave".

Actually, that's statistical average life expectancy. If you made it past 1, you lived to 60 or 70 just like a lot of people do now. But the infant mortality was sky high which dragged down the average life expectancy.

 

[Texas42]

Actually, that's statistical average life expectancy. If you made it past 1, you lived to 60 or 70 just like a lot of people do now. But the infant mortality was sky high which dragged down the average life expectancy.

You are wrong.

While people did live very long (look at Ben Franklin) they were a lot more rare than right now.

Cancer and chronic disease (basically things that kill old people) can be much better managed today. I do find it frustrating that I cannot find a median age anywhere. Not to mention our ability to treat acute disease have realatively high cure rates accross the board.

Basically we have made a ton of medical advancements in areas other than OB-GYN

 

[M. Sage]

You are wrong.

While people did live very long (look at Ben Franklin) they were a lot more rare than right now.

Cancer and chronic disease (basically things that kill old people) can be much better managed today. I do find it frustrating that I cannot find a median age anywhere. Not to mention our ability to treat acute disease have realatively high cure rates accross the board.

Basically we have made a ton of medical advancements in areas other than OB-GYN

This. And we live better. We live so well, we have to do things like pull the teeth that we evolved to come in and take the place of the ones we would already have worn out or lost... and that's only in our early 20s.

One of the only reasons Franklin lived so long was that he didn't live a life of back-breaking labor like a lot of the poorer folks at the time.

 

[DCortez]

The fact that a cave woman gave birth makes her more of a man than any of you wimps.

 

[CGoodwin]

OK, to refocus: We are talking about a WHOLE DIFFERENT SPECIES of early man here. It was one that could have easily beaten homo sapiens to the lead in world dominance based purely upon estimated brain size from fossilized skull measurements. Additionally, the Neanderthal was HUGE compared to both early and modern man, with many of the mechanical advantages of muscle leverage that modern non-human primates have, i.e.: increased distance for center of joint rotation to tendinous insertion points. A 60 lb. chimpanzee could best most humans in pure strength given appropriate leverage to stabilize the trunk! Also, many cryptozoologists (I know, no the most rational or reliable bunch of "scientist") link the Yeti and Sasquatch myths to survival of some variation of Neanderthal.

So, in conclusion: Compared to early homo sapiens and austrilopithecas (sp?), we are frigging GIANTS, but Neanderthal could have kicked us up and down said mountains form an earlier poster!

 

[M. Sage]

This is true, but I had the impression that they were comparing us to other early humans, too.

I've also heard the neanderthal theory put forth as a source for the Beowulf saga.