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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 27, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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As an aside, I really doubt that men are evolved to detect “unnatural” things.

The uncanny valley certainly seems to be innate, and probably explains why people dislike looking at people with extreme cosmetic surgery e.g. the Bogdanoffs.

I should have been more clear—no objection to the premise that we can and do detect “unnatural things.” What I find unlikely is that it’s “straight men” detecting things “like this,” i.e. sexual selection. I’d say it’s an extension of our general pattern-matching skills.

That clearing looks like an ambush, that bush looks like a tiger, that dude looks like a corpse.