Girls don’t look more alike. They try to conform to a certain image but once the makeup and style is removed, they’re all distinctive.
I think you notice the differences between men more because you’re a man and notice the differences among your own kind.
Perhaps you see women as a different species than you and so you lump them together more, much as how all Americans look alike to Chinese people and such.
===
Yup. I mean part of it has to do with the limited capacity of humans to process uniqueness: We compress the world into simplified forms because there’s limited working space.
That’s what makes all squares squares and not unique things.
But when it’s applied to people… well, we’re certainly capable of better, assuming there aren’t inherent limitations of capacity.
==
How’d I do? I didn’t want to call otherness abusers stupid. It’s not limited processing capacity or limited storage… just disuse of inherent capabilities.
===
Well, by inherent limitations I speak in general. We simply can’t process all of the uniqueness of the Universe into our brains through our eyes, ears and other senses.
Too much unique. We’re sucking the universe into our brains through 2mm wide straws most of the time. [our eyes].
Then, our brains have a certain speed they run at and can do only so much.
So, we compress the data we receive, creating patterns. “Similars”.
a) This is similar to that.
b) This is not like that.
c) This is something I can’t process and must modify until I can process it, or I must reject it.
among others I’m sure.
This is a good thing of course: lets us get a lot of stuff done.
Yet, when it’s applied to people it can lead to horrible social consequences.
So, I think we’re in agreement, just taking different angles to reach similar conclusions.
===
Indeed. Whatever fits my preexisting pattern is accepted. All else is rejected. Because I am rejecting that which I don’t accept, I only see what I already accept, making everything look more and more like what I accept, because I’m automatically rejecting all else.
=== I liken it to sports mentality. Team players. I’ve never been a team player. Authority figures didn’t impress me, even as a kid. I respect authority due to the office of the authority but I don’t ascribe it to the person. [I’d respect my teachers because they were teachers and on another level I’d respect them as humans, but their authority as teachers, to me, didn’t make them authorities as humans, because to me, I treat all humans on equal footing and neither above nor below].
==
I’d need to see more on it to be a believer. I understand the point you’re making: and it’s definitely intriguing: I’ve never heard of it in 44 yrs but I’ve never done anything much in gender studies, and bells curves are usually anathama to me because of school (I was always outside of the bell curve and related best to people outside of the bell curves on either side)
===
I’ve never been a fan of evolutionary psychology, ever since the Alpha male craze of the 1980s. I was a kid/teen at the time and I was bombarded with these “pick up chicks – how to be an alpha male – don’t be a beta” crap in the back of Boys’ Life or comics or wherever i saw it…
===
I have a long time bias against evolutionary explanations for modern day behaviors.
===
BUT, I did order the Charles Atlas course when I was 12 yrs old. Went through the whole course. It works. I still use it.
===
But attractive to whom? Do men and women find the same men attractive? Do men and women find the same women attractive?
===
Physical attractiveness in men seems to be related to stereotypical masculine traits, which are culturally dependent. Might be strength in one culture. Might be wisdom in another, speed in another, and each of these traits are typicified by a stereotypical ‘image’ of what that ‘perfect man’ in that culture would be like. At least that’s my understanding.
===
Even THERE it’s tough, because you have different strata in society. Men occupy far more positions in society. So let’s say a woman is attracted to political power, and in that culture the man with political power is the fat man. So, the fat man will be attractive to that woman but to another woman who finds brains to be attractive, if the stereotype of a brainiac in that culture is short and slim, then that’s what she’ll be attracted to.
===
Still not buying it but it’s interesting. It might be tough for me too: this is where white male privilege might be coming into play: I’m six feet tall, broad shouldered, naturally muscular (I don’t work out anymore – just do occasional wall pushups), good facial bone structure, visibly strong nails. I’m not seeking anybody – haven’t in a long time – yet I get invitations wherever I go. I don’t even dress right. I’m a slob. But, men compliment my beard. (perfect standard guy beard without even shaving), women hover around me in stores while I’m trying to read something.. kind of annoying because I’m not looking for anybody… random kids come up to me and ask for help with stuff because I look like a “nice guy”…. …so maybe I’m blind to it because maybe I fit it. I dunno. I still find it hard to accept though.
Chat Conversation End
===
Like in school, girls would violently grab my hands and go, I WOULD KILL FOR YOUR NAILS. I’d politely wait until they let go, but it’d freak me out internally. Why the fuck do they keep grabbing my hands?
===
It’s doable. I’m always experimenting on myself, even since I was a kid. I have to know my limitations. I still do it.
===
I’m always messing with that. I mean, I kinda have a pattern now. I can eyeball portions fine, I try to keep somewhat of a ratio of meats and fiber things… try to limit carbs stuff, make sure there’s enough oils…. I can tell you how much protein/fat is in something by tasting it or looking at it. So, for me it’s maintenance. But I’d experiment again if something interesting came along.
===
Rarely had the luxury. A few times I did versions of the Atkins diet or similar things and then I’d be very strict. At 30, I got myself down to 3% body fat: I challenged myself to get down to what the standard weights tables said I should be for my height and frame. But I was cold and miserable all of the time, shitting rocks. So, I found my lower limit. Bounced up since then but in this case, I don’t want to find my maximum weight.
===
I was obsessing. I got down to 189 lbs. I was freezing cold – I could never get warm. 6 months in the gym and I lose 31 lbs, gained muscle, dropped body fat… it sucked. I wanted to hit 180 but it was impossible for me without losing muscle.
===
lol – closest thing to body dysmorphia I had was as a kid. Fastest runner 8,9,10 yrs old in a row. Thick calves. Skinny arms. Incredible Hulk was my idol. Got Charles Atlas (no weights required) at 12. Muscle just piled on within a month. Won a bb competition in high school (“clean and jerk”) my gym teacher secretly enrolled me in. [I didn’t know why I was doing this one challenge every day but I did it]….. but it wasn’t my thing. I just have the kind of body that can be muscular without trying. I’m overweight now – probably 20-30 lbs or so. Don’t care ’cause I could lose it anytime.
===
oh please. they’re just not trying. They’d rather bitch and moan. I haven’t dated in… shit, 20 yrs. No interest in a partner [3 psycho girlfriends in a row and I said fuck it and nearly joined a monastery a year later]. – but I know I could. I don’t even think about it.
===
They’re basing their idea of women on the women that play the flirting game. Most women DON’T play the flirting game. I avoid the flirting game. Hate the flirting game. Desperation is a turn off. You can smell desperation in a person a mile away.
===
I’m standing in a store. Woman walks up to me, pulls her shirt down a little so a little more boob top is showing. Starts flittering her eyes. I avoid her and walk the other way. I’m not looking for anyone. I can smell her makeup. I don’t like the smell of makeup.
===
It’s annoying. I’m not saying it happens daily… but a few times a month. I feel their ‘bubble’ too close. I don’t want a desperate woman who has to play peacock. If i want someone, I’ll find someone who I’ve talked to online locally, who is intelligent, I don’t give a shit what they look like or sound like. If they got brains, they’re fine.
===
Two girlfriends after that was more merciful. She was desperate. Never had a man. Body odor, not that I was much better, hair overbleached, but a fellow Doctor Who fan. So, I let her do whatever, did what she wanted to experiment. Big mistake. She followed me for months after that, wrote desperate letters… ugh. These weren’t even the psycho girls that turned me off of dating – they were later. But these two stood out.
—–
Anyway, I like women but I like them as people, not mates. I’m sure I’m saying some cliche here but it’s how i am.
===
Oh I don’t think finding a good woman is hard at all. I’ve got a lot of potentials on my friends lists in different places. But to me they’re people. Anything more than that is gravy but not the primary.
===
Oh. That. My mistake back then? Playing the flirting game. I learned. If a woman is playing peacock to get my attention, I want nothing to do with her.
==
Of course the women that play peacock are ALSO the women with the boob jobs, spent hours on makeup and clothes – not for herself, but to go on the hunt. I don’t want to be prey, and I don’t want desperation either.
===
fucking soy. I had to stop it as a protein source. I started getting cranky – skin felt weird. Couldn’t figure out why. Then I learned about the phytoestrogens. Sucked too ’cause it was a dirt cheap protein source.
===
Did you know that copper leads to estrogen and zinc leads to testosterone? Copper’s in chocolate, coffee, cocoa. Zinc’s in pumpkin seeds. Anyway, I pop a zinc a few times a week. Keeps all the white stuff in my body working good – white blood cells, whatever else that’s white… to counterbalance 2 pots of coffee a day.. all that copper.
===
But yeah – big believer in b12, magnesium, zinc. Those three are amazing. I don’t bother taking other vitamins but those I’ll take a few times a week when I think of it. Take them together and it’s like a tranquilizer. It’s awesome.‘—
===
Ah! I work from home [run a family biz] – and my laptop is on the back porch – full screen lanai. It’s not direct sun but it’s around. Vitamin D3 makes me want to throw up, so I don’t touch it. Tried it fora bit though.
Chat Conversation End
===
I believe in lightweight oils now and again – like mineral oil but for the body – gets in the cracks… magnesium because our diets are usually too heavy in calcium…. [and calcium and magnesium balance each other out in the tightening and loosening of blood vesels] …. zinc… and b12 because, well, b12. But I’ve tried many others. Those were the three left over that I stuck with.
===
I figure my diet gives me most things. Zinc isn’t in a lot of foods so it’s weak and magnesium is only in greens, and I don’t always get a salad (but I like salad so it’s not a hardship for me) – so magnesium is a replacement salad for me.
===
Back when it was legal, I was on ephedrine (or the pseudo one) for a year. One of my experiments. Loved it. Tons of energy. One day, I tripled the dosage. Thought I was gonna die. I was done with it then. Found out later some kid in texas DID die and then banned it not long after that.
Chat Conversation End
===
I dunno if it’s problem though: I think it’s an evolutionary advantge. When there is an emergency, I’m RIGHT THERE, helping, giving 1000%. It knocks me out, but I have instant reaction energy always available.
==
lol but you added the nomad thing – I like that. I have a hermit’s personality. I prefer to work alone. I’m not a wanderer: I like my feet on the ground in place. For me, I don’t LIKE when my fight/flight/freeze kicks in. I get tunnel vision – ears get hot – it’s awful. Been a long time but it’s an awful sensation.
===
So, it’s probably not a physical ADHD but more mental… or something, I dunno. I just know the hyperfocus fits. When I’m on a project, everything I do in fact, gets as much of my attention as I can possibly give: even this conversation. It’s a high to be focused.
Chat Conversation End
===
1/2 deaf/1/2 blind from birth, so no rifle or bow and arrow for me. Although I can do throwing knives and darts great. Flip flip flip flip SLAM
===
20/180 in good eye, bad eye has no central – so I have cyclops vision. Middle age has been GREAT for me though. I can use my iPhone now without my glasses. Visions’s improving. Love it. Left ear is tin, right ear only goes up to 5000 hz, yet I have both kinds of perfect pitch and can play any musical instrument. Never made anything of it – was supposed to go to Julliard but refused ’cause the increasing perfection upon perfection would’ve driven me nuts – I need to be creative, not perfect. Yeah, target practice not for me. Although, I can shoot a basketball with one hand from far away and get it in 7 out of 10 times. So I guess it’s the ‘type’ of aim and shoot.
===
Typing speed 110wpm consistently, almost entered the guiness for “fastest piano” ’cause I beat the record holder at home.. but then I realized I dont’ wanna go through that shit and I’d probably freeze. So, I’m a speed junkie.
===
I’ve skinned a few deer with my bro. [he’s a hunter – eagle vision] – and I *did* castrate two pig once… that were too old for it. Never had a problem with the smells and blood. I just did it.Not sure if speed-stabbing is a thing though tongue emoticon
===
I take the evolutionary advantage stuff with a grain of salt – like I say, I’m kinda skeptical about evolutionary psychology as a whole. Not that it’s not interesting ’cause it is, but they seem like contrived, not provable reasons for modern behavior.
====
Wait – I’d have been a runner. Muscular calves, #1 runner in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Sprinter though. Not long distance. So, messenger maybe.
===
Right now, I’m growing hair long: someday it’ll be pure white. I’ll be the wise dude on the hill or in a cave or something. I prefer mythology (Joseph Campbell style) over evolutionary stuff generally. Better stories.
===
I like genetics, but I see it as interdependent forces: Bottom level you have genes. The genes interact with unconscious processes ,which interact with the conscious processes, which interact with the world around, which also influences the conscious processes which influence the unconscious processes which modify the gene expression availablities. So it’s a system from environment to genes, each modifying the other. So the way our genes express themselves in THIS environment will necessarily not be the same as it was 50,000 years ago. Even if it’s the same genes more or less, between the environment, conscious and unconscious processes, the expression of the genes will differ.
===
I guess my brain doesn’t go back that far. I tend to mentally stop at Ancient Egypt, at the historical records. Civilizations have progressed due to social and technological advances and yet, with some language lessons, we could PROBABLY function in ancient Egypt and, after a year or so of adjusting (assuming removal of language barrier), someone from Ancient Egypt could survive today. But in the eras beyond recorded history, I see a lot of speculative fiction. It’s hard for me to place certainties in it. I like hearing the tales told but to me they’re a modern mythology for a people hungry for an ancient past to draw inspiration from, as most of our old mythologies have been decimated. We need new ones.
===
and tales of ancient evolutionary adaptation fits the bill nicely for the 19th-21st century ppls.
===
Well, there *is* some evidence I’m aware of of the skull size of women increasing significantly from the 15th century to the 20th century, due to better nutrition and healthcare, so there is some merit to what you’re saying.
===
That’d be true but also smaller bodies’ hearts beat faster, which drains more oxygen. I don’t know if that makes up for the difference but look at children for examples. Also, we could compare dwarves to see.
===
Funny thing is, we don’t need all of those calories. There’s a lot of lost traditions rarely practiced like extensive fasting periods for example. Probably could study peoples that have fasting rituals and compare longevity, mental capacity and calorie needs like Tibetan monks or other monastic societies that are frequent fasters to compare.
==
Vegan’s too strict anyway: it’s an unnatural tradition. Vegetarianism is commonplace among humans, but vegan is a weird modern contrivance.
===
I think a lot of the excess calories we eat in 1st world countries assist in our ancient bodies and minds coping with a world we designed but wasn’t designed FOR us to function in.
==
Oh that’s not true. Back in the early 1980s, there was a family of vegans living two blocks away from me. A mother and four kids. Strict vegan. But you’re right that eventually it catches up to you: One day, when my friend was about 12 [ and yes, he was raised strict vegan ] – he was upset. His mom was having fainting spells, went to the doctor. Told her she has to eat fish now. So, she made fish regretfully for herself but not her kids. They turned out fine. But maybe eventually they’ll have to start eating fish too, I dunno. Lost touch with them a few years back.
===
All the kids were raised vegan, so if this was 1984, that means she’d been practicing it since the early 1970s as he was the oldest of four boys.
===
But I’m no expert in the stuff. It’s anecdotal. I was a kid. I’d heard of vegetarian but it was the first time I heard the word “Vegan”…. I just knew he wasn’t able to have birthday cake at parties and brought his own food.
===
I dunno. Any diet you do has to have the right balance of carbs, proteins, fats. Gotta have some bacteria for digestion so fiber or yogurt is good. Gotta get your vitamins. Gotta have a certain amt of calories. Gotta have a certain amount of water. But HOW you get those things, I don’t know how much it matters. I think we’re all deficient in some areas, excess in others. Doubt anybody’s come up with the perfect human diet yet.
Chat Conversation End
===
You’d think SOMEBODY along the line would’ve figure out the TALL diet: This diet will make your next few generations taller.
===
Yeah – there’s been a worldwide growth spurt, but I credit baby food / early medical care / washing hands.
===
Yeah, better caretaking. I mean if you get sickly when you’re a baby, you’re not gonna grow as tall. But if you’re well cared for, you have the best chance to maximize your height.
===
9th-11th century. That was also the height of Byzantine civilization… the Islamic emprires were also at their peak before they started getting weird… there was cooperation… Not with Rome though. Rome was in the outs at that point
===
Good question. I dunno. I’m exactly 6′ but I’m not perfection. My mom did feed us yogurt in the late 70s/early 80s.. had a weird yogurt maker. We weren’t vegetarian or anything but she experimented with health stuff.. mother earth news and shit.
===
I’ve yet to see anybody’s utopian vision come to fruition, with the possible exception of the early Internet dreams… and that was a technological utopia not really a people one, and we’ve been getting there. But social utopians always seem to fail.
===
Closest ones i can think of are: Greeks had their day, Romans theirs, Byzantine Empire was like 900 years – that’s a long time. Ottoman empire was a long time. US empire was a long time… so I guess they last for some periods of time China of course… very long time.
===
So, we’re be talking using strings and cans? Man, that sucks – FAcebook + microsoft was just gonna lay a huge cable across the ocean like the 1850s transatlantic cable… doing something USEFUL for a change… now we gotta go back to can-string-can communication tongue emoticon
===
Sword fighting. We’d better stock up on antibiotics then ’cause they’ll be so many survivors. guns kill ppl dead. Survivors need medical care. America would never stand for it: we like killing people dead.. for… some reason..
===
They got cage fighting and stuff. Oh! There’s a Russian boxing club that’s moved to sword fighting – have you seen the videos? I’m not much for sports, but THAT one I’d think about watching.