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credit: Lyric Rosatti When scientists and science-fiction writers think about the unintended consequences of new technology, they tend to obsess about the far-out what-ifs: "What if the internet turns us into a world of shut-ins? What if nuclear terrorism neutralizes our military advantage?" That's why people who worry over the effects of rapid technological change in the field of wireless communications ("What if the disintermediating effects of digital communication render us unable to effect face-to-face communication?") would never have anticipated something so mundane as this:
Rabid-tempered rapper Foxy Brown is in trouble again after allegedly smashing a BlackBerry into her Brooklyn neighbor's face, officials said yesterday.Nice to know that 100,000 years of human history (not to mention billions of dollars worth of R & D on the part of Research in Motion) has done little to change our innate tendency to hurl small, hard objects. Here I defer to Richard W. Young of UCLA Medical School:
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Raymond told cops she was walking home from work July 30 when Foxy hurled a BlackBerry at her.
It has been proposed that the hominid lineage began when a group of chimpanzee-like apes began to throw rocks and swing clubs at adversaries, and that this behaviour yielded reproductive advantages for millions of years, driving natural selection for improved throwing and clubbing prowess.Of course, this isn't the first time a Blackberry has been confused with a weapon. >> New rap for diva rapper | The Daily News >> Evolution of the human hand: the role of throwing and clubbing | Journal of Anatomy
This assertion leads to the prediction that the human hand should be adapted for throwing and clubbing, a topic that is explored in the following report.
It is shown that the two fundamental human handgrips, first identified by J. R. Napier, and named by him the 'precision grip' and 'power grip', represent a throwing grip and a clubbing grip, thereby providing an evolutionary explanation for the two unique grips, and the extensive anatomical remodelling of the hand that made them possible. These results are supported by palaeoanthropological evidence.
