(urth) Fuligin in illustration

[John Smith]

--- On Fri, 10/31/08, Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org> wrote:

> From: Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
> Subject: Re: (urth) Fuligin in illustration
> To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Date: Friday, October 31, 2008, 12:45 PM
> You guys are great.
> thanks so much for scanning and hosting the illustration.
> yes i agree its the most faithful thing I've seen for
> Severian.
> and very well rendered ta boot.
> 
> and yes, I'd LOVE to seen the additional Vass Richard
> covers.
> 
> this rendering does bring up one other question I've
> been toying with, which is, wouldn't these future ice
> age folk be sorta hairy.  Anything I've seen has a sort
> of modern whiteboy look, ie, not so hairy.  I suppose he
> might look like a manly russian old school dude.  I mean,
> he's a wolf and the name Severian is Russian, No? 
> anyway, I don't really think there is much mention of
> his hair, other than the black hairs on the back of his
> hands and head, and his shaving.  I don't think there is
> anything to say he's not a hairy chested man.
> 
> Christ, I'm such a nerd.
> 
> best,
> ~witz
> 
> 
 If we're counting on natural selection to cause ice-age people to become hairy, they probably won't.  Clothes, fire and other gifts of civilization will be much more important to survival than body hair.   Those who retain the most civilization will most likely survive and pass on their genes.

And let's not forget sexual selection, another of Darwin's great insights.  If women choose men who are relatively hairless, then hairlessness becomes more common.  On the other hand, if women prefer hairy guys, we'll all end up looking like gorillas.

Best wishes,

Jack