About having 5 fingers.

[AccuTron]

This is not supposed to be religious, tho' I can see how it could go there.  I'm just curious.  "I shot an arrow into the air..."

 

So the fishes have 5 fin bones.  That makes perfect engineering sense...carefully treading around that word...as far as having a central strut about which to pivot, plus enough struts on each side to actually do something effective.

 

Now I'm typing with my 5 evolved digits.  I am a tinkerer, and I may also have my hands full while unloading the car and unlocking the back door.  At various times, I notice that I have exactly the right number of fingers.  

 

The opposing thumb is of course an obvious favorite, playing Costello to the index finger Abbot.  The middle finger is of course legendary for it's many uses, including a really strong grip on something.  

 

I sometimes notice how the pinky is the perfect end cap for actions such as stacking.  The fourth finger is a great temporary wire or rope holder, while the first three are doing the actual tinkering, and the pinky is the trailing guide.  

 

I think six would just be clutter.  Musicians might like it.

 

Have you ever thought about this, or if you did, worry that you did?  Would you want a different digit count, not even counting how we count?  

[Torero]

Having 5 fingers and use their full potential is just as "engineered" as having two legs, having no tail hindering our movement or having a toolkit with a hammer, screwdriver and drilling device if those are the only tools invented. It's what we have, born with, so it looks perfectly fit for the job.

 

Is having 2 fixed frontal eyes the "ideal case" because we have them and can see 3D? Spiders, or chameleons (amazing animals), if they could talk, would disagree...

 

Octopuses and monkeys that have a "5th arm" using their flexible tails also may very well disagree with our "perfectly designed" limbs....

 

It's our toolkit, so we use it.

 

I am glad this site is the toolkit for our brains to use more potential of it then staring at stupid series, engineered for easliy brainwashable minds.

[AccuTron]

I was just going for the digit count, not the whole package.

 

I was also just cleaning my bike chain (grateful for 3D vision).  To avoid using the interfering kickstand, I propped the bike against furniture.  I could go for that extra arm or tentacle.  I'd like to try a tentacle.

 

As for those spiders, I really like having my binocular vision.  Yet, I also take it as silver lining that, while on my bike, I get good neck and upper torso movement because I am utterly blind behind and rather poor to the sides.  

 

To have full around vision, outside in open country, in a mild daytime snowstorm, or to see the whole clear nighttime sky and horizon at once, these would be real treats.  (I wear glasses, I suppose a normally visioned person laying down could somewhat already do that.)  Chameleons?  You mean their skin, not eyes?  A nighttime bike rider with a reflective face, any color, at will; sign me up!

[Torero]

Chameleons?  You mean their skin, not eyes?

 

 

Nature, I love you.

[AccuTron]

Wow, didn't know they did that!  Neurologically interesting, having two different areas of focus.  Do their optic nerves cross to both lobes, like we do?  Are they doing quick switching of interpretation, between eyes, but not both at the same time?  "Officer, that man was making chameleon eyes at me!  And everyone else at the same time!"

[RationalPenguin]

 

Nature, I love you.

Do they have multiple fields of vision? Do we know how that works in their brains?

[Donnadogsoth]

Nature, I love you.

 

Creationists should have trouble with the chameleon.  They might think it is their friend by being so unlikely, but its ocular arrangement's very rarity avers against Creationism, for, if it is so useful, why aren't all animals like that?  Evolution explains that it is an experiment conducted by Nature, not an engineering principle adopted across the board.

This is not supposed to be religious, tho' I can see how it could go there.  I'm just curious.  "I shot an arrow into the air..."

 

So the fishes have 5 fin bones.  That makes perfect engineering sense...carefully treading around that word...as far as having a central strut about which to pivot, plus enough struts on each side to actually do something effective.

 

Now I'm typing with my 5 evolved digits.  I am a tinkerer, and I may also have my hands full while unloading the car and unlocking the back door.  At various times, I notice that I have exactly the right number of fingers.  

 

The opposing thumb is of course an obvious favorite, playing Costello to the index finger Abbot.  The middle finger is of course legendary for it's many uses, including a really strong grip on something.  

 

I sometimes notice how the pinky is the perfect end cap for actions such as stacking.  The fourth finger is a great temporary wire or rope holder, while the first three are doing the actual tinkering, and the pinky is the trailing guide.  

 

I think six would just be clutter.  Musicians might like it.

 

Have you ever thought about this, or if you did, worry that you did?  Would you want a different digit count, not even counting how we count?  

 

Could the human hand be based on the Golden Section and thus beautiful in a way that a six-fingered hand or a four-fingered hand would not be?