in: Andrew; Andrew > 2008-05-08;
| # Posted 2008-05-10 02:01:51 | |
| ndobbs: | read it...
nice piece, although he mixes up his ideas which could lead to confusion - doesn't fill me with huge desire to read the book. Question for the engineer: How would you improve on the spine? I'm pretty damn impressed with it as is... |
| # Posted 2008-05-12 13:27:51 | |
| Andrew: | The article is interesting - but, yeah, it seems that once you've read the summary, there's no need to go on and read the whole book.
The spine? Have you not ever heard of back-trouble?!! I guess I know what you mean though - it's obviously a pretty good design after a few million years of evolution, but the writer's point is that it's "good enough but far from perfect". It can still be impressive, but might leave a bit to be desired... It is an impressive engineering problem though - to have some supporting structure which is flexible (and not just at a single joint, but along it's length...), and even rotational. If I had time I might Google better spine designs, but... maybe later ;) An immediate response to a better spine design might be to stick a little bit more support up around our necks... but to be quite honest an engineer can never beat evolution, because the engineer will overlook some important factors that millions of years of evolution would never miss... e.g. more support around necks, less ability to crane necks to spot suitable mates, thus individuals with more neck support won't get to reproduce ;) |
You must be logged in to add a message