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Where are the dinosaurs?

rush1169

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Probably improvements in cooking made them increasingly redundant
Being better cooks causes evolution?
. . . a lack of dental treatments and their propensity for infection/malformation make them an increasing liability.
A lack of good dentists cause evolution?
 
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rush1169

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You have no idea what evolution is. It is not caused by those factors, it is guided. Learn the difference. Or, even better, learn what evolution is.
I have no idea??? I wasn't the one that said that being a better cook causes evolution to happen. . .
 
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rush1169

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It is not caused by those factors, it is guided. Learn the difference. . .

OK, in an effort to learn, please help me with this:
Original Question said:
What advantage do smaller jawed humans with no wisdom teeth have over larger jawed humans with wisdom teeth do you reckon?
 
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The Engineer

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OK, in an effort to learn, please help me with this:
Advantageous traits only establish themselves if they offer a reproductive advantage. If the members of a population with the advantageous trait reproduce more successfully, i.e. if they produce more children than the members without the advantageous trait, the trait will be established. If they don't, for whatever reason, it won't.

For apes, having large teeth is a reproductive advantage, because it makes eating and hence surviving easier for them. For humans, it's not a reproductive advantage, because we have learned how to prepare our food so we don't have to rely on large teeth.

What this means is that humans with large teeth have no reproductive advantage over humans with smaller teeth. In fact, the humans with smaller teeth may have the advantage because they may (or may not, don't know about that although it's a possibility) have less complications when losing their primary teeth and because smaller teeth use less resources.

In short, the reproductive advantage stemming from having larger teeth vanished with the advent of cooking.
 
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rush1169

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In short, the reproductive advantage stemming from having larger teeth vanished with the advent of cooking.
So cooking eliminated a reproductive advantage that humans with wisdom teeth had. Is that the same as saying that cooking food causes evolution?
 
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The Engineer

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So cooking eliminated a reproductive advantage that humans with wisdom teeth had. Is that the same as saying that cooking food causes evolution?
No, because evolution always happens when an imperfect reproduction of genes occurs, i.e. every generation. The advent of cooking did not cause evolution, unless you specifically talk about the evolution of the human teeth, in which case it may be valid.
 
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rush1169

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No, because evolution always happens when an imperfect reproduction of genes occurs, i.e. every generation.
So, we had a full mouth of teeth. Then someone had a mutation that caused them to be sans at least one wisdom tooth and maybe up to four. There was no reproductive or survivability issue. So, through the generations, the frequency of missing wisdom teeth has increased.

The advent of cooking did not cause evolution, unless you specifically talk about the evolution of the human teeth, in which case it may be valid.
Since we are, then cooking food may be a valid cause of evolution.

The cooking of food seems a little 'far fetched' as to be the reason that we started showing up without wisdom teeth, but I'll accept it. A reproductive mistake that left someone without wisdom teeth seems a lot stronger of an explanation.

Why wouldn't missing wisdom teeth be the result of an allele variation/supression? (I hope I used 'allele' in the right context).
 
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The Engineer

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Exactly!

Since we are, then cooking food may be a valid cause of evolution.
Well, in this context, yes. Yes, it's a valid cause for the evolution of missing wisdom teeth.

The cooking of food seems a little 'far fetched' as to be the reason that we started showing up without wisdom teeth, but I'll accept it. A reproductive mistake that left someone without wisdom teeth seems a lot stronger of an explanation.
These two reasons are not exclusive. The invention of cooking was not the reason why humans were born without wisdom teeth, but it's the reason why this trait stayed.

Why wouldn't missing wisdom teeth be the result of an allele variation/supression?
This could very well have been the case. Mutations are the cause of new traits, but selection decides which traits are going to stay.

(I hope I used 'allele' in the right context).
I think so, yes.
 
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