Thanks, Eric, for the correction. I also found this website interesting for all the places where “spandrel” get’s used in construction jargon.
http://www.cmswillowbrook.com/constructorknowledge/2015/2/27/architectural-terms-spandrel-more-than-just-spandrel-glass OK, So the Spandrel is unambiguously the space which is “exapted” for the decoration. N Nick Thompson <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Eric Charles Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2021 11:01 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Spandrel Steve, Yes exactly! Humans were not selected "for noses." Humans were (the argument goes) selected for shorter jaws. The "protruding" nose is what you end up with after selection shrinks the jaw. So, if you notice that humans have noses, and you jump straight to asking "Why did protruding noses evolve? What adaptive function do they serve?" you are barking up the wrong tree. Ditto impacted wisdom teeth. It would be pretty silly to assert that impacted wisdom teeth were adaptive, even though they likely resulted from natural selection through the same pressures that led to noses. Now, the problem with the "nose" example is that, given the variation in noses around the world, it is actually quite plausible that nose size and shape IS adaptive. But that's a different issue ;- ) On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 12:50 AM Steve Smith <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Nick - Not to beat a dead Spandrel, but the nose example doesn't wash with me. In many familiar animals, the nose is perched on the end of a snout, and it was the snout that was deprecated in us to the point that the nostril-holes with various adaptive properties (downward facing to keep rain out, hair-lined and snotty to trap dust and pollen, (mildly) turbinated to support humidity/temperature regulation, sensitive to support "feeling" things with one's proboscis before we smash the whole face into it, loaded with chemically sensitive cells for "smell", etc) are highly diminished compared to various creatures like a daschund or an elephant or an anteater. Our nose still has significant affordances similar/familiar to those listed above (serviceable smeller, filter, heat/humidity exchanger, etc ) even if it is not at all prehensile or particularly discriminating and if humans have a snout at all, it is a highly diminished one. I suspect references to "being nosy" and "sticking our noses in other's business" is borrowed from watching our snoutful familiars like horses or camels or racoons or dogs "nosing around". The proboscis of our nose *points* where our eyes are looking (somewhat) so that conflation may be mildly meaningful? Does "butting out" connote backing out butt-first when one recognizes their nosing around isn't welcome? <beep><beep><beep> - Sneeze - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam <http://bit.ly/virtualfriam> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
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