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Comment by justboxing | Hacker News Reader

Digging the joke, but is there any scientific truth to this statement?

> It was designed to be horizontal. Then people came along and used it vertical. Wasn't meant for that.

It's more accurate to say that the vast majority of tetrapods evolved their spines to support use parallel to the ground, and that even those which occasionally walk around bipedally spend lots of time either brachiating (in trees) or quadrupedally.

There were no designs involved.

Humans are the largest bipedal walkers, but not the only ones. Here's an interesting survey:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1571302/

I'd say (and I am a biologist) there is truth to it, but we also didn't evolve sitting all day. There would be much less back problems if would walk and stand more because our muscles would be trained constantly. Our bodies are things that wear out when not using them.

It's "directionally" true, but it's a simplification. Our spines have evolved slightly to accomodate an upright posture. The human spine is curved to accomodate weight bearing while upright, and this particular curvature is not seen in other mammals, including other great apes like chimps and gorillas.

Ref: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordosis

Yes, humans evolved from an animal whose back was horizontal, parallel with the ground. Our spines are not an optimal solution.

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