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Comment on People complain that it's poor design that humans eat and breath through the same pipe(throat). Are there any animals which don't though?

otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Most mammals (if not most animals) breathe through their noses.

People complaining about humans being designed poorly don’t know that this design “flaw” is what allows us to be able to speak.

Yes, this increases our risk of dying by choking. But despite that, being able to speak has been so evolutionarily advantageous that our increased risk of dying is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

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sxan@midwest.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
I’d have put the vocal chords in the nasal passage, allowing humans to still talk while eliminating the choking problem.

The laryngeal nerve is a much more stupid design, simply because there’s no practical reason for it to be the way it is.

Also: if we didn’t have the ability to breath through our mouths, swimming as a sport would be harder, since we don’t have the ability to close our nose-holes.

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- OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  I’d have put the vocal chords in the nasal passage, allowing humans to still talk while eliminating the choking problem.
  
  Exactly. A very simple correction to the design would allow for both.
  
  The laryngeal nerve is a great example of how flawed our bodies are. A few more are:
  
  Our back is terrible for walking upright. It evolved as a horizontal support and doesn’t work well when compressed.
  
  Our hips are too narrow for the size skull we give birth to. Many women die from this without healthcare.
  
  Our eyes suck. A lot of people need corrective lenses from a young age. This gets even worse as we age.
  
  Speaking of eyes, our retinas are backwards. The nerves that send the signals back to our brains run in front the receptors that pick up the light. We have a blind spot because those nerves need to pass through to reach the brain.
  
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  - sxan@midwest.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I’ve saved this under “Why our ‘intelligent’ designer was an incompetent amateur.”
    
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- otp@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Yeah, I say designed, but it’s not in the “something planned it” sense. We ended up this way because of a series of random chances that just sorta’ worked in allowing us to live long enough to have more successful offspring.
  
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- angrystego@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Quite a lot of people can close their nose-holes by curling up their upper lip. I’m not one of them, unfortunately.
  
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  - sxan@midwest.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Like, airtight seal? For swimming?
    
    Weird.
    
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    angrystego@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Yep, my cousin dives like that, it’s a superpower.
    
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