Modern man is a wimp

greenobs97 · 10-20-2009, 09:55 PM

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...dChannel=11604

Modern man a wimp says anthropologist

LONDON (Reuters) - Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100 and 200 meters record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions.

Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.

Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle.

These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled "Manthropology" and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male."

McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue.

"If you're reading this then you -- or the male you have bought it for -- are the worst man in history.

"No ifs, no buts -- the worst man, period...As a class we are in fact the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet."

Delving into a wide range of source material McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping.

His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey.

FLEET-FOOTED ABORIGINALS

An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37 kph on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt, by comparison, reached a top speed of 42 kph during his then world 100 meters record of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics.

In an interview in the English university town of Cambridge where he was temporarily resident, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberized tracks, aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45 kph.

"We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal," he said.

"But if they can do that speed of 37 kph on very soft ground I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does.

"We can tell that T8 is accelerating toward the end of his tracks."

McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast.

"We have to remember too how incredibly rare these fossilizations are," he said. "What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?"

Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century.

STARK DECLINE

"It was an initiation ritual, everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said.

"It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves."

McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10 percent more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity she would have reached 90 percent of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s.

"But because of the quirk of her physiology, with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem," he said.

Manthropology abounds with other examples:

* Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.

* Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.

* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).

McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin but added: "Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered."

Why the decline?

"We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister replied. "These people were much more robust than we were.

"We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago. There's been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight, times and heights have all improved vastly since then but if you go back further it's a different story.

"At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.

"The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 percent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.

"We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes, doesn't come close to replicating that.

"We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days but there are some things we would do well to profit from."

(Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

What does OT have to say about this?

Flamesuit on and let the noob bashing begin.

I know Lurk more and post less but I just had to post this.

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

gramicci101 · 10-20-2009, 09:56 PM

Modern man doesn't have to chase down his food.

skywatcher · 10-20-2009, 09:56 PM

Lots of words and very little C/Ns.

.brian. · 10-20-2009, 09:57 PM

usain bolt guy is fast as ****.

Predwolf · 10-20-2009, 09:57 PM

I blame the TV, PC and Video Games.

Oh, and birth control.

hitman912 · 10-20-2009, 10:31 PM

so what? would they even know how to use a USB?

RastaMon · 10-20-2009, 10:33 PM

Modern man makes nuclear weapons.

nukes > sticks

ScoobyDoobyDoo · 10-20-2009, 10:37 PM

While it may be true, current man > man fifty years ago. Just look at sports. Guys back in the day couldn't even compete.

RastaMon · 10-20-2009, 10:38 PM

roid man > dapper man

White_Rex · 10-20-2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScoobyDoobyDoo

While it may be true, current man > man fifty years ago. Just look at sports. Guys back in the day couldn't even compete.

I am sorry, but really?

Try again.

fireball_jones · 10-20-2009, 10:45 PM

I'd like to see a Neanderthal hit a 95 mph fastball or properly line up in nickel defense.

Bokuden · 10-20-2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

* Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).

Aboriginals also used woomeras (their version of an atlatl), which allows them to throw the spear much farther than by just using their hands.

Mach V Dan · 10-20-2009, 10:48 PM

Neanderthal man sucked at Halo: ODST.

skywatcher · 10-20-2009, 10:49 PM

Neanderthal man didn't live past 35. Modern man wins.

ScoobyDoobyDoo · 10-20-2009, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White_Rex

I am sorry, but really?

Try again.

What do you disagree with?

Kenny (L-CO) · 10-20-2009, 10:50 PM

I've got nothing to say.
I've got nothing to do.
All of my neurons are functioning smoothly, yet still I'm a cyborg just like you.
I'm one big myoma that thinks my planet supports only me.
I've got this one problem, will I live forever?
I've got just a short time to see.

BacDoc · 10-20-2009, 10:51 PM

Neanderthal man could only manage an 8% return.

White_Rex · 10-20-2009, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScoobyDoobyDoo

What do you disagree with?

How about the science around sports has changed and not the "man". Training, equipment, supplements, etc all make a huge difference.

Drink · 10-20-2009, 10:55 PM

I am fully confident I could pummel the man who wrote that article.

ptclaus98 · 10-20-2009, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RastaMon

fop > dapper dan

ScoobyDoobyDoo · 10-20-2009, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White_Rex

How about the science around sports has changed and not the "man". Training, equipment, supplements, etc all make a huge difference.

But the science, equipment, supplements HAVE made the MAN stronger and faster...thus the MAN is better than the MAN of old. Quite simple really. Sure there are reasons for it, but man is more powerful than he once was.

ptclaus98 · 10-20-2009, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by White_Rex

I am sorry, but really?

Try again.

I'll take my 6'5" 300 pound DT that runs a 4.8, you take a 5'11" 220 guy that runs a 5.4, we'll do an Okie drill and we'll have a wager. Sound good?

bcblues · 10-20-2009, 10:58 PM

ttiwwop

BacDoc · 10-20-2009, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScoobyDoobyDoo

But the science, equipment, supplements HAVE made the MAN stronger and faster...thus the MAN is better than the MAN of old. Quite simple really. Sure there are reasons for it, but man is more powerful than he once was.

I disagree. Average man today is 30 lbs overweight and hasn't lifted anything heavier than a donut since graduating college. Average man today can't even use the fiving stairs.

White_Rex · 10-20-2009, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScoobyDoobyDoo

But the science, equipment, supplements HAVE made the MAN stronger and faster...thus the MAN is better than the MAN of old. Quite simple really. Sure there are reasons for it, but man is more powerful than he once was.

:facepalm.jpeg:

10-20-2009, 09:55 PM	#1
greenobs97 Scooby Newbie Member#: 223373 Join Date: Sep 2009 Chapter/Region: NWIC Location: Redmond WA Vehicle: 97 Outback sport Green	Modern man is a wimp http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...dChannel=11604 Modern man a wimp says anthropologist LONDON (Reuters) - Many prehistoric Australian aboriginals could have outrun world 100 and 200 meters record holder Usain Bolt in modern conditions. Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood. Any Neanderthal woman could have beaten former bodybuilder and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an arm wrestle. These and other eye-catching claims are detailed in a book by Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister entitled "Manthropology" and provocatively sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male." McAllister sets out his stall in the opening sentence of the prologue. "If you're reading this then you -- or the male you have bought it for -- are the worst man in history. "No ifs, no buts -- the worst man, period...As a class we are in fact the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet." Delving into a wide range of source material McAllister finds evidence he believes proves that modern man is inferior to his predecessors in, among other fields, the basic Olympic athletics disciplines of running and jumping. His conclusions about the speed of Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago are based on a set of footprints, preserved in a fossilized claypan lake bed, of six men chasing prey. FLEET-FOOTED ABORIGINALS An analysis of the footsteps of one of the men, dubbed T8, shows he reached speeds of 37 kph on a soft, muddy lake edge. Bolt, by comparison, reached a top speed of 42 kph during his then world 100 meters record of 9.69 seconds at last year's Beijing Olympics. In an interview in the English university town of Cambridge where he was temporarily resident, McAllister said that, with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberized tracks, aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 45 kph. "We can assume they are running close to their maximum if they are chasing an animal," he said. "But if they can do that speed of 37 kph on very soft ground I suspect there is a strong chance they would have outdone Usain Bolt if they had all the advantages that he does. "We can tell that T8 is accelerating toward the end of his tracks." McAllister said it was probable that any number of T8's contemporaries could have run as fast. "We have to remember too how incredibly rare these fossilizations are," he said. "What are the odds that you would get the fastest runner in Australia at that particular time in that particular place in such a way that was going to be preserved?" Turning to the high jump, McAllister said photographs taken by a German anthropologist showed young men jumping heights of up to 2.52 meters in the early years of last century. STARK DECLINE "It was an initiation ritual, everybody had to do it. They had to be able to jump their own height to progress to manhood," he said. "It was something they did all the time and they lived very active lives from a very early age. They developed very phenomenal abilities in jumping. They were jumping from boyhood onwards to prove themselves." McAllister said a Neanderthal woman had 10 percent more muscle bulk than modern European man. Trained to capacity she would have reached 90 percent of Schwarzenegger's bulk at his peak in the 1970s. "But because of the quirk of her physiology, with a much shorter lower arm, she would slam him to the table without a problem," he said. Manthropology abounds with other examples: * Roman legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment. * Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen. * Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48). McAllister said it was difficult to equate the ancient spear with the modern javelin but added: "Given other evidence of Aboriginal man's superb athleticism you'd have to wonder whether they couldn't have taken out every modern javelin event they entered." Why the decline? "We are so inactive these days and have been since the industrial revolution really kicked into gear," McAllister replied. "These people were much more robust than we were. "We don't see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago. There's been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight, times and heights have all improved vastly since then but if you go back further it's a different story. "At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then. "The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 percent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days. "We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven't developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes, doesn't come close to replicating that. "We wouldn't want to go back to the brutality of those days but there are some things we would do well to profit from." (Editing by Clare Fallon; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) What does OT have to say about this? Flamesuit on and let the noob bashing begin. I know Lurk more and post less but I just had to post this. * Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

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10-20-2009, 09:56 PM	#2
gramicci101 Scooby Newbie Member#: 64763 Join Date: Jun 2004 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Delawhere? Vehicle: The cake is a lie.	Modern man doesn't have to chase down his food.

10-20-2009, 09:56 PM	#3
skywatcher Scooby Newbie Member#: 82470 Join Date: Mar 2005 Chapter/Region: International Vehicle: My God, it's full of stars!	Lots of words and very little C/Ns.

10-20-2009, 09:57 PM	#4
.brian. Scooby Newbie Member#: 155207 Join Date: Jul 2007 Chapter/Region: Tri-State	usain bolt guy is fast as ****.

10-20-2009, 09:57 PM	#5
Predwolf Scooby Specialist Member#: 54292 Join Date: Feb 2004 Chapter/Region: VIC Location: FBHIC HQ Vehicle: I'm Kissy Furkins, Explosives Technician.	I blame the TV, PC and Video Games. Oh, and birth control.

10-20-2009, 10:31 PM	#6
hitman912 Scooby Specialist Member#: 38811 Join Date: Jun 2003 Chapter/Region: BAIC Location: Watsonville and Sacramento Vehicle: 2002 WRX Sedan Platinum Silver	so what? would they even know how to use a USB?

10-20-2009, 10:33 PM	#7
RastaMon Scooby Newbie Member#: 106431 Join Date: Jan 2006 Vehicle: O O \__/	Modern man makes nuclear weapons. nukes > sticks

10-20-2009, 10:37 PM	#8
ScoobyDoobyDoo Scooby Newbie Member#: 45392 Join Date: Oct 2003 Chapter/Region: South East Location: The QC Vehicle: 2008 SGM 135i	While it may be true, current man > man fifty years ago. Just look at sports. Guys back in the day couldn't even compete.

10-20-2009, 10:38 PM	#9
RastaMon Scooby Newbie Member#: 106431 Join Date: Jan 2006 Vehicle: O O \__/	roid man > dapper man

10-20-2009, 10:45 PM	#11
fireball_jones Scooby Specialist Member#: 67536 Join Date: Aug 2004 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: Side of the road, Somerville Vehicle: 00 AW GM6 And a bunch of parts	I'd like to see a Neanderthal hit a 95 mph fastball or properly line up in nickel defense.

10-20-2009, 10:48 PM	#13
Mach V Dan NASIOC Vendor Member#: 12029 Join Date: Nov 2001 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Arlington, VA Vehicle: Once again, I have cut a worthless object.	Neanderthal man sucked at Halo: ODST.

10-20-2009, 10:49 PM	#14
skywatcher Scooby Newbie Member#: 82470 Join Date: Mar 2005 Chapter/Region: International Vehicle: My God, it's full of stars!	Neanderthal man didn't live past 35. Modern man wins.

10-20-2009, 10:50 PM	#16
Kenny (L-CO) Scooby Newbie Member#: 151390 Join Date: Jun 2007 Chapter/Region: RMIC Location: My clothes go to the vet.	I've got nothing to say. I've got nothing to do. All of my neurons are functioning smoothly, yet still I'm a cyborg just like you. I'm one big myoma that thinks my planet supports only me. I've got this one problem, will I live forever? I've got just a short time to see.

10-20-2009, 10:51 PM	#17
BacDoc The Modest Mod Moderator Member#: 75141 Join Date: Nov 2004 Chapter/Region: MAIC	Neanderthal man could only manage an 8% return.

10-20-2009, 10:55 PM	#19
Drink Scooby Specialist Member#: 102682 Join Date: Dec 2005	I am fully confident I could pummel the man who wrote that article.

10-20-2009, 10:58 PM	#23
bcblues Scooby Specialist Member#: 17256 Join Date: Apr 2002 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: America's Outback Vehicle: 04 STi Blue w/ custom bug splat	ttiwwop