Q. By that I mean as something we recognize as a color of power or status or danger?
This is strictly scientifically hypothetical and not meant for people to just say "God did it".
The color red has had powerful meanings for quite some time now through out history.
For example: going back to Ancient Egypt, the poorer class of people would paint their hair black, the middle class would bleach it blonde while the wealthy, priestesses and aristocrats would bleach it and then dye it red as a sign of their status. And many Greek and Egyptian Goddesses were often depicted as red heads or with red as a symbolic color.
If you study art you would know that you can tell the wealth of the artists before the 1800's simply by how much red they used in their paintings as red was the most expensive color to use/paint with. Many artists simply used a lot of red in their paintings for this reason.
Even looking at Da Vinci's religious paintings, whenever he painted women of seduction he always depicted them as red heads. Eve was a red head to symbolize her seduction of Adam into eating the apple and in the "Last Supper" Mary Magdalene was depicted as a red head (Or whoever that was for those of you who think that's just a stupid conspiracy theory)
What do you think? Is it possible red is apart of our DNA by now? Is it possible humans can evolve to color?
Seriously I'm asking, I'm not a sociology expert yet cause my college is losing funding in that class.
Actually no, I only like black on my avatar.
My gf is a red head, as well as my mom and grandma. I guess that explains my obsession with red, but I'm wondering about others.
This is strictly scientifically hypothetical and not meant for people to just say "God did it".
The color red has had powerful meanings for quite some time now through out history.
For example: going back to Ancient Egypt, the poorer class of people would paint their hair black, the middle class would bleach it blonde while the wealthy, priestesses and aristocrats would bleach it and then dye it red as a sign of their status. And many Greek and Egyptian Goddesses were often depicted as red heads or with red as a symbolic color.
If you study art you would know that you can tell the wealth of the artists before the 1800's simply by how much red they used in their paintings as red was the most expensive color to use/paint with. Many artists simply used a lot of red in their paintings for this reason.
Even looking at Da Vinci's religious paintings, whenever he painted women of seduction he always depicted them as red heads. Eve was a red head to symbolize her seduction of Adam into eating the apple and in the "Last Supper" Mary Magdalene was depicted as a red head (Or whoever that was for those of you who think that's just a stupid conspiracy theory)
What do you think? Is it possible red is apart of our DNA by now? Is it possible humans can evolve to color?
Seriously I'm asking, I'm not a sociology expert yet cause my college is losing funding in that class.
Actually no, I only like black on my avatar.
My gf is a red head, as well as my mom and grandma. I guess that explains my obsession with red, but I'm wondering about others.
Answer
Only so far as there is a photopigment tuned towards the red range and its absence results in color blindness to red. Blood is red. Wood fire is red. There is as much to believe it is an association that crosses cultural boundaries.
As for dye choices, most dyes and pigments were expensive until synthetic indigo created a revolution in chemistry. The British Army's red coats date to the English Civil War. Since it was countryman vs. countryman, one color of dress was used to identify friend from foe. Red was selected because it was cheapest.
Only so far as there is a photopigment tuned towards the red range and its absence results in color blindness to red. Blood is red. Wood fire is red. There is as much to believe it is an association that crosses cultural boundaries.
As for dye choices, most dyes and pigments were expensive until synthetic indigo created a revolution in chemistry. The British Army's red coats date to the English Civil War. Since it was countryman vs. countryman, one color of dress was used to identify friend from foe. Red was selected because it was cheapest.
Fellow Atheists, a question about evolution?
Celes
I don't even know if this has anything to do with evolution since I'm not too savvy on the subject and things related to it. But yesterday I was thinking a lot about humans and hair color. So here comes my stupid question: Do we have the assortment of hair colors that we have today (blonde, red, brunette,) because of evolution? And if so, is it possible that we could've naturally have had blue or green or purple hair if some changes happened through out our evolution process?
IDK, I just thought it'd be interesting and would make our species more...colorful and vibrant if we many different kinds of hair colors and not just the ones we have today. PLEASE don't throw rotten tomatoes at me if I'm not making very much sense (since I'm almost positive that I'm not...)
Answer
The question makes sense and is legit, even if slightly "off the wall." But heck, it's a fun idea so I'll take some time on it.
We have the hair colors brunette, blonde, or red because of adaptation, which is one element of the overarching topic of evolution. Originally, adaptation was the process whereby our hominid ancestors developed different hair colors (all over the body) as camouflage. Various shades of blonde-brown were effective in hiding those ancestors in tall wild grass stalks. I've seen pictures of female African lions in tall grass where all you can see are the eyes and teeth. Everything else blends in perfectly. That color is a sort of blond with very light touch of brunette thrown in.
As hominids, we grazed a lot, so had hair that would adapt to our grazing areas. Once we evolved into Homo sapiens, our hair color was less important because we lost most of our body hair. What is left is so small as to be nearly invisible. But our cranial hair became a feature for a different type of adaptation - mating displays. Just as the peacock developed that glorious tail, beautiful to see but useless for flight, we developed hair color variations as attractants. (OK, I'll admit it - I have a weakness for true redheads...)
As to the possibility of blue, green, or purple, I don't think that is a possible hair color because our hair is really just a modified type of skin cell. Our skin tones cannot be blue, green, or purple because melanin, the chemical that colors our skin, cannot show any of those colors.
Hope that answers your question adequately.
The question makes sense and is legit, even if slightly "off the wall." But heck, it's a fun idea so I'll take some time on it.
We have the hair colors brunette, blonde, or red because of adaptation, which is one element of the overarching topic of evolution. Originally, adaptation was the process whereby our hominid ancestors developed different hair colors (all over the body) as camouflage. Various shades of blonde-brown were effective in hiding those ancestors in tall wild grass stalks. I've seen pictures of female African lions in tall grass where all you can see are the eyes and teeth. Everything else blends in perfectly. That color is a sort of blond with very light touch of brunette thrown in.
As hominids, we grazed a lot, so had hair that would adapt to our grazing areas. Once we evolved into Homo sapiens, our hair color was less important because we lost most of our body hair. What is left is so small as to be nearly invisible. But our cranial hair became a feature for a different type of adaptation - mating displays. Just as the peacock developed that glorious tail, beautiful to see but useless for flight, we developed hair color variations as attractants. (OK, I'll admit it - I have a weakness for true redheads...)
As to the possibility of blue, green, or purple, I don't think that is a possible hair color because our hair is really just a modified type of skin cell. Our skin tones cannot be blue, green, or purple because melanin, the chemical that colors our skin, cannot show any of those colors.
Hope that answers your question adequately.
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