[extropy-chat] HISTORY: Solved & Unsolved Riddles

[Harvey Newstrom]

Spike wrote,
> To expand on this thought just a bit, I 
> might conjecture about two muscle systems
> in the human body that appear out of scale:
> the gluteus maximus and the pectorals.  
 
> You almost need to devise some oddball exercise 
> machine to even challenge those powerful muscles 
> to any real degree.

Not really.  Think about evolving on all fours while trying to outrun, out
climb or out swim hungry predators.  These are the exact muscles you would
maximize.  The glutes pull our hip joints back to provide thrust with our
legs.  The pecs pull our shoulder joints back to provide thrust with our
arms.  Those with the largest glutes and pecs escaped predators more often.
This is a simply a matter of speed provided by the larger muscles.  Sexual
attraction to these muscles probably evolved as a secondary trait, just as
attraction to symmetrical, healthy, brightly-colored, similar-looking mates
did.

-- 
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS Certified GIAC
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