some people are in great shape so ..

Whew.... fly that by me one more time... maybe im not reading it correctly.

Is the human heightened sense of logic, ability to learn, and reason a fair trade off for the poor physical traits we possess?

There you go Ang.

And we have fairly good physical traits. There's not too many animals on earth (as a percentage) that could beat us in a straight fight, even if you exclude the insects. Bears, crocodiles, hippos, the big cats, elephants...
We're pretty handy in the larger scheme of things. We're never happy with what we've got. That's just human nature.

Bitch

I myself like our abilty to walk on on our hind limbs freeing up our fore limbs for doing neat and handy stuff like evolving opposable forefingers.

It would be cool if we had tusks though.

I don"t know if you could call it a "trade off" is not like God sat everyone down and said ok humans you'll be weak but smart ,lions stong but not real smart....

I don't know why not it sounds about as plausible as other creation myths.

i tell u this, she better have some damn great ideas to make up for those tiny tits. :()

^ what?

the reason we're the dominant species on the planet is almost entirely due to our large brains. Also, the fact that we can adapt easily to almost environment we're in. We've evolved to walk on two legs to see farther. Our brain is at the upmost part of out bodies to give it maximum protection. we have opposable thumbs for using tools. we've got long legs to run fast and strong arms to grip.

I'd say we're damned near perfect!

I agree that we don't come out bad in the physical department, if you take a specific animal and compare it's specialization to a human we don't measure up real well but overall I think we are damn close to on top.

ok modcons whats your favorite myth?come to think fish growing legs does sound as silly and an invisible being thinking it into existance.

^What does that post even mean? Is that just an admission that you don't understand evolution?

The smart man when he spots danger runs into a cave, lures the lion in and ambushes it with his fellow tribe.

Thankyou, confucious.

I think it's a reasonable trade, although I'd happily give up my ability to do maths for a pair of wings

What we might lack in physical strength we more than make up for with projectile weapons.

Humans, while jack of all trades and master of none, are only #1 because of our rejection of natural selection. We'd be #1 even if we had followed natural selection, but we'd have been a lot better at it. As it is, we're just overpopulating the planet. I don't think that humans as a species could survive as individuals on their own survival instincts. We've been getting set up in a system for years, we need this system to survive. As for fending for ourselves, we only have because we look for a way to get rid a mass amount of something in a short period of time, despite the final results, such as bombings and modern hunting (is there a difference these days?). I forgot where I was going with this exactly.

Yes. Humans have taken it up a notch, because of our highly developed brain and spinal column.
Take me, for instance. I can't play team sports to save my life. But i'm great with computers, and techno... and i still have a skills with the opposite sex. I still eat. I still get up in the morning and say "ah shyt, i wish i could sleep. Oh well. I probably won't die today, cuz i have a brain."

But anyway, human lack of physical traits is balanced by our minds. Who knows. Maybe, in 1000 years, human developement will be far enough that we can fly at will....

I couldn't win a tug of war with a horse or a cow, but because of my human brain and hands, I have learned how to train horses to help me win in tug of war's with other horses and cattle.

i think the human body is reselant in its own ways there aren't many animals that can take the kinda heat that we can and while there are some that do better in heat than us they can't take the cold that we can. the human body isn't spectacular at anything but is sufficant at everything

i don know- as buddyloki said, it does have massive compartive defence to some other animals- like break a horses leg, it'll have to be shot because it would heal. Our joints can take more pressure than most animal's can (try twisting the leg of a pig round 180 degrees without it coming off!). I think its more that evolved specialised creatures (like cheetahs, koahlas, pandas etc) are overall weaker than creatures with rounded ability (like humans, foxes,rats, pigs etc) and the specialists always end up dying out (like variations of early man, dodos etc) gerneralists usually can take pretty much all that in throw at them (like heat, cold, etc.) Because (ala buddyloki) it "is sufficant at everything".

"only #1 because of our rejection of natural selection"

whatever you say.

way to much thought in that question i mean serious!!!!

I thinks its only cooked pigs whose legs fall off by twisting them 180 degrees. When I was growing up there would be a greased pig event for kids at the county fair. Whoever could catch it got to keep it. The pig always managed to go home with all 4 legs attached and pointing in the same direction, and we weren't very gentle with them.

there is also variations in the human race i saw on the discovery channel that (for example) white people tend to have better endurance than other races and asians on average have better hand eye quordination. also if you look at the way peoples bodies are built africans should be abilt to take hot weather much better than other races while whites can take cold weather better

There is more important things than physical features, and therefore I would much rather be ugly and smart than pretty and completly shallow.