How different would History be... if Man had a Penile Bone?!?!

Germaniac

Germaniac

Donor
Mr J said:
And the modern Kazahstan border shall appear all through out history!
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I cannot stop laughing

Don't forget that The Irish will have a global empire, South Africa will be majority white, US will balkanize, and of course I will have a girlfriend.
 

The Nameless One

Dunno about the state of the world, (it would certainly be to divergent to make any sense,) but there could be traditions of "de boning" certain males to make them into slaves or palace eunuchs.

Furthermore, the "bones" of defeated enemies could be proudly worn as jewelry in certain tribal societies.
 

Sol Invictus

charl said:
IIRC no apes or monkeys have them, so the closest relative with that kind of anatomy would be really weird like dolphins or something.
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I thought that might be the case, only I was just trying to be logical and find a POD that allowed the antecedents of humanity to retain it, of course evolution being what it is it could have developed later.

Trying to trace our evolutionary from Dolphins, or rather the ancestors of Dolphins or some such, whilst justifying our retention of a penile bone or trying to explain how such a bone would evolve is a bit of a head fuck though.
 

charl

Sol Invictus said:
I thought that might be the case, only I was just trying to be logical and find a POD that allowed the antecedents of humanity to retain it, of course evolution being what it is it could have developed later.

Trying to trace our evolutionary from Dolphins, or rather the ancestors of Dolphins or some such, whilst justifying our retention of a penile bone or trying to explain how such a bone would evolve is a bit of a head fuck though.
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Well dolphins are probably not the actual closest relative with penile bones. I doubt science even knows what is for certain. DNA is not that well mapped between species.

EDIT: Ok, so I checked wikipedia. Dolphins don't actually have penile bones, but as it turns out all primates except humans apparently do. That means our closest relative with a penile bone would be the chimpanzee.
 

Sol Invictus

charl said:
Well dolphins are probably not the actual closest relative with penile bones. I doubt science even knows what is for certain. DNA is not that well mapped between species.

EDIT: Ok, so I checked wikipedia. Dolphins don't actually have penile bones, but as it turns out all primates except humans apparently do. That means our closest relative with a penile bone would be the chimpanzee.
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No I thought the Dolphin comment was just a random guess so I figured I'd run with it.

How strange...

So therefore the question is, what evolutionary pressures, or lack therof causes the lack of a penile bone to be an advantageous mutation or an irrelevancy?
 

charl

Sol Invictus said:
No I thought the Dolphin comment was just a random guess so I figured I'd run with it.

How strange...

So therefore the question is, what evolutionary pressures, or lack therof causes the lack of a penile bone to be an advantageous mutation or an irrelevancy?
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Well the primate penile bone is apparently pretty small compared to the general size of the organ itself, forming just a small part of the base. Primates in general are probably moving away from it for different reasons, with us humans having evolved away from it completely being the most advanced of the order as always.

I have no idea what this really means, but you know... The facts are there. Someone smarter than me can make a theory about it.
 

Neala

charl said:
Well the primate penile bone is apparently pretty small compared to the general size of the organ itself, forming just a small part of the base. Primates in general are probably moving away from it for different reasons, with us humans having evolved away from it completely being the most advanced of the order as always.
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It's a common misunderstanding that Humans are one of the most advanced mammals - in fact we are in many ways quite primitive, for instance we still have 5 fingers and toes on each hand and foot. A better word than advanced to use is derived. All animals are 'advanced' and primitive. For instance the Platypus is a highly derived organism, not withstanding the fact that for a mammal it's reproductive and excretory systems are primitive.
 

Sol Invictus

Good points, it is important to remember that there is objective concept of progress or advancement in evolution.

If this penile bone is 'shrinking' as one approaches humankind it does not suggest that humans are more advanced, merely that their situation is different.
 

Boto von Ageduch

Sol Invictus said:
So therefore the question is, what evolutionary pressures, or lack therof causes the lack of a penile bone to be an advantageous mutation or an irrelevancy?
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I'm not informed about the latest state of research in that matter, but afaik penile bones make erections faster/easier (big surprise).
This is particularly important for loners who need quite a bit of luck to meet a conspecialist anyway and have to rely on seizing opportunities as might evolve.
So I'd say this sort of kick-off aid has gradually become unnecessary by life in groups, and by dissolution of clear-cut mating periods in the year,
 

Sol Invictus

Boto von Ageduch said:
I'm not informed about the latest state of research in that matter, but afaik penile bones make erections faster/easier (big surprise).
This is particularly important for loners who need quite a bit of luck to meet a conspecialist anyway and have to rely on seizing opportunities as might evolve.
So I'd say this sort of kick-off aid has gradually become unnecessary by life in groups, and by dissolution of clear-cut mating periods in the year,
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That seems to make sense, and suggests a possible future/surgical 'enhancement'.
 
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