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CGMthrowaway 4 hours ago

It is detrimental though. It is socially impolite to yawn in public.

Edit: why am I being downvoted for this?

bc569a80a344f9c 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even if yawning in public affected sexual fitness: how long has it been socially impolite to yawn in public? Evolution takes a rather long time in species with long reproductive cycles. Almost all mammals yawn, it would take significant genetic changes to breed that out of us. That doesn't happen overnight.

CGMthrowaway 3 hours ago | parent [-]

400-500 years minimum (15-20 generations), although point taken

JoshTriplett 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It is socially impolite to yawn in public.

No, it isn't. It can be socially impolite to yawn unexcused, when someone is talking to you, as it has come to be interpreted as boredom rather than tiredness or similar. But it isn't inherently impolite to, for instance, yawn when walking down the street, or in a setting where someone isn't talking to you.

weinzierl an hour ago | parent [-]

In my (limited) experience it is quite culturally dependent.

What you describe is in my opinion true for western cultures. In Brazil they are not so relaxed about it. Asia even less so.

victorbjorklund 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wonder if that has always been the case or if it is a modern thing (modern in the sense of our evolutionary history).

avazhi 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> why am I being downvoted for this?

Because you don’t know what detrimental means in this context and clearly don’t understand evolutionary timescales?

frisbm 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

is it so detrimental that it leads to a person never finding a mate and reproducing? Maybe for a totally extreme outlier, but probably not

CGMthrowaway 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Is that the right criteria? A trait must be completely, 100% disqualifying as a mate or else it sticks around?

Our ancestors used to have tails. We no longer have tails. Plenty of people wear artificial tails today and get laid, it's not a 100% disqualifying trait

samus an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Our primate ancestors required tails so they could effectively move around on trees. A tree dweller without a functional tail is slower and has a harder time gathering food and escaping from predators. That's a very strong selection pressure that ends up maintaining the tail.

When the woods in eastern Africa changed into savannah, we shifted to two legs and adopted a persistence hunting strategy. The tail became useless, even a liability, and mutations that resulted in reduced tails were not selected against anymore.

vizzier 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Natural selection doesn't require 100% disqualifying, it just needs a slight preference and a shit load of time.

CGMthrowaway 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes that is more along the lines I was thinking

kace91 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>Plenty of people wear artificial tails today and get laid

…Do they? What did I miss?

2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]
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