TheDevilsAdvokaat

TheDevilsAdvokaat t1_j9jgso6 wrote

Reply to comment by F0sh in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442

>If grey hair is energetically no more or less favourable than coloured hair then it would be difficult for it to spread as an honest signal of unfitness because it could just as easily be faked.

You're right. It's not an honest signal, because it can be faked.

However, while it's advantageous for individuals to fake, it's disadvantageous for the populations that contain individuals that fake.....so there's pressure to fake and pressure not to fake. Overall I would guess the pressure not to fake would outweigh the individual pressure to fake but it is just a guess...

>It seems more likely that grey hair is a signal for something else - age and hence some kind of experience/authority, or a side-effect of something else."

I agree. I showed a possible reason for gray hair, I am sure there are others. ANd in reality the total advantages for grey hair are going to be a SUM of the advantages and disadvantages. Whether that sum is a total positive or negative, who knows; the sign (+ or -) will probably differ depending on whether we're talking individual advantages or population advantages.

Which leads back to my original point; that some of the adaptations dismissed as "quirks" probably aren't.

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TheDevilsAdvokaat t1_j9j3lgp wrote

Reply to comment by CletusDSpuckler in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442

Sometimes things we think are weird quirks actually have benefits we just haven't realised.

There's a severe cost for females having babies with older males. It's well known that over a certain age, babies from older men have increased problems.

As the father grows older, the number of mutations in the father's genome increases, leading to an increase in the incidence of congenital malformations in offspring [11, 65]. Older paternal age may be harmful to the offspring's health in terms of genetic mutations, telomere length, and epigenetics

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7803514/#:~:text=As%20the%20father%20grows%20older,%2C%20and%20epigenetics%20%5B66%5D.

But how do you easily tell or estimate a male's age? Well, what about a signal like graying? Imagine if there was a signal that was almost universal among males, easy to spot at a glance, and a decent general guide to age?

I suspect graying is NOT a "weird quirk". It's just one we didn't realise the benefit of. There could be other good reasons for graying too. Graying may be an "honest signal" like stotting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_theory#Honest_signals

I suspect there are a lot less "weird quirks" than people think; just misunderstood adaptations.

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TheDevilsAdvokaat t1_iwgnkic wrote

Reply to AMD Now Powers 101 of the World's Fastest Supercomputers by Avieshek

https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/06/28/top500-ai-cloud-native/#:~:text=NVIDIA%20technologies%20power%20342%20systems,centers%20are%20increasingly%20adopting%20AI.

NVIDIA technologies power 342 systems on the TOP500 list released at the ISC High Performance event today, including 70 percent of all new systems and eight of the top 10. (June 28 2021)

Not a fanboy of either, just posted this for the sake of comparison.

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