Humans Are Evolving Right Before Our Eyes on the Tibetan Plateau

sciencealert.com

4 pointsmywacaday2 comments

Modern-day human evolution can be less obvious. My favorite example are those born with six fingers on each hand (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyly). This uncommon mutation grants a subtle calculation advantage.

Think about it. If this mutation had become the norm, we would have base-12 numbers, which over thousands of years could have accelerated mathematical evolution.

Nontrivial divisors of 10: 2, 5

Nontrivial divisors of 12: 2, 3, 4, 6

These people also have an unfair advantage in guitar playing.

Numerous civilizations, such as the Sumerians and Egyptians, did use base-12 math. We find the remnants of this in our timekeeping systems - 12 hours of day and night, 12 months in a year, 60 minutes per hour and 60 seconds per minute, etc.

Human mathematical prowess is in no way limited by the number of fingers on a human hand.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com