h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I ask this question as the human body really is (to quote Prince Harry - date: w/e 07/03/08) 'a pile of poo' when it come to the design.

This stems from my 'not comedic' proof of there not being a God due to the fact that all animals and humans defecate and unrinate.

Get this explanation out of the way: we are now in a point of our 'evolution' where we are trying to re-cycle and use everything to its maximum with little waste.

As a Chemical Engineer I have to try to reduce any waste heat, liquid, solids, gases & stenches to a minimum when I design a plant.

Now look at the human body and the way it uses anoly a fractin of the biomass available in the food that we eat.

Would it have taken God very long to actually design the digetive systems of animals such that there was no waste at all? No need for excreting useless waste?

And replying it makes good fertiliser is not a reason for it as God could have ensured that plants did not need such fertilisers etc.

And of cause the stench of gaseous emissions.

So, number 1 on the ideal human: 100% use of food mass eaten with no waste.

Number 2: redesigning the spinal column. For some reason Godobviously designed four legged animals before humans and got a bit lazy. Ne simply took a four legged creature and pulled the body upright did a few tweaks on the hips but left the now vertical spinal column design pretty much the same as for an animal that walks around with the spine in the horizontal position where the vertebrae lock in more and has more support. The reason we have so many back problems is the human spine is not designed correctly for vertical use.

Number 3: diseases. Firstly gastric diseases. Why design the body such that it cannot cope with toxics and diseases in a way that doesn't make the human being feel like...poo? Why indeed deisgn diseases or at least diseases that can be caught by humans. Why didn't He make us immune from any disease or slightly off chicken breast?

Number 4: the third arm...where is it?? Yes, a personal bug-bear.

Number 5: child birth. why make the exit big enough only for the entry of the old male thingy...snigger. Why design it such that when the baby comes out the same way the pain has been likened to pulling your bottom lip over the top of your head. It is said that women get forgetful after they give birth so they forget the pain of child birth...instead of that solution to the problem we not make the exit bigger/more stretchy etc so there is no pain in the first place.

Any other design flaws that would, if it had been designed differently, would make our lives much easier?

Why didn't God make willies chocolate-flavoured

Most egregious design flaw in the human body, and for that matter in all vertebrates - airway crosses digestive tract.

There is simply no reason for this to be the case. It's not necessary. It requires an extra bit of design work, in fact, in that you have to design a cross-over valve. And whatever the design of that valve, it's possible to block it, at which point your organism chokes painfully to death, quite slowly, by accident, for no other reason than your criminally negligent incompetence as a designer.

That single feature of all vertebrates is proof enough to me that IF there's a god which "designed" us, that god is noticeably, DEMONSTRABLY, less intelligent than the average chartered engineer. Which if it is the supreme being and has ultimate power, should scare the living daylights out of you. Scared by the concept of a cretin like George Bush having his finger on the nuclear button? Yeah, that times infinity.

The appendix in humans.

Good in vegtarian bunnies not good in omniverous humans.

*aside* a rather odious short-lived ex-landlord of mine was a vegetarian. In the course of a conversation I said something along the ines of 'well, humans are 'supposed to be' omnivores' to which he replied: 'I'm not so sure about that.' Really!!!! Even our nearest relation the chimp is omniverous.

Testicles not* on the outside of the body

Ooo, yes good one. The reason being of course that they have to be kept cool hence blokes who can't get their partner up the duff have to keep their crown jewels v cool.

Why not just design sperm to grow produce at any temperature.

AND of course, why make them so f**king sensitive. Yeah great design. If you do have to have them dangling in front of the body at least make them tough and able to put up with the pain of say ooo, something like a 10pound lump hammer being smacked straight between them. Yes, now that would be a better design.

They weren't meant to be at the front though, They were meant to be between our rear legs with our tail to protect them.

*um* cough...can we keep the THEORY...it's just a THEORY of Evolution out of this.

This thread is specifically about the design flaws that the god that designed us failed to sort out...us humans evolved from animals...pah...

Oooh, where to start?

The mammal eye has the blood vessels and nerves on the *outside* of the retina, meaning we have naturally blurred vision and blind spots where the blood vessels go through the retina. Other animals have it wired the right way round and have much better vision.

Mitochondrial DNA in the mitochondria themselves, where it gets damaged by the energy production process. According to this it’s like putting the blueprints for the steam engine next to the furnace:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19526161.800-evolutions-greatest-mistakes.html

There’s the breast, which has had to get bigger and pointier because human babies have such flat faces. Not that I’m complaining too much.

And of course the old engineer’s joke about running a waste pipe through a recreational area.

Sweatiness and inappropriate hair inclusive.

I think the lack of complete regeneration was a real oversight.

God was on a fairly tight budget as well, I think. The build quality has been a real let down. My kidneys are sh*t. Also, my liver is f*cked, I'm tired, stupid, my hair and beard don't match, I've got ADHD and I can't breath underwater.

I've also had mixed results when attempting flight.

Maybe he'/she could have deisnged humans so we don't desire that which is bad for us and scorn that for us which is good I mean, people crave booze, drugs, unhealthy foodsorts, dangerous outdoor persuits, dangerous sexual leasons, etc.... But its clearly a misteake in our wiring diagrams, all those desires shoudl instead be aimed at, deiiring to go for a nice healthy run in the middle of winter, cravings for celery lettuce and toamtos and carrots, etc

Only because that god made us such that those things would be bad for us. here is no reason why that god should not have designed our bodies to cope correctly with those things that are good for us.

That god made the rules.

Because that god designed us that way.


Because that god designed us that way.

Because that god designed us that way.

Because that god designed us that way.

Because that god designed us that way.

etc

Maybe he's having a laugh.

Well, yes, that would verify my long held believe that god is a...oh...can't say anything derogatory about 'God' otherwise the post gets hidden.

Are you trying to say that God yikeses your posts?

He's not...no.. it can't be

>>Testicles not* on the outside of the body <<

Doesn't that just prove that god is a woman? Men would be insufferable if it were any other way.

I always found it weird that the male of most species - supposedly the sex that does the running around and hunting and fighting, has these stupid vulnerable dangly appendages. Would've been far more sensible to give them to the women. Women have breasts anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference to them .

Yeah but women do most of the work so it makes sense that they would be less encumbered

Why bother with different genders, or sexual reproduction, at all?