As I’ve gotten older, I mean.

  • Paragone@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Before people ripped my ear-hairs out, because whites apparently find it intolerable for another to have them ( my skin’s white, I’m 1/4 east-Indian )

    it used to be possible to feel the slightest breeze, someone opening a door or window to a house/apartment I was in, or any similar thing.

    Massive & unusual sense that people ripped out from my life.

    I’ve only short ones, now, & it’s a bit like being deaf, to breezes, in comparison.

    _ /\ _

  • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net
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    6 days ago

    Evolution doesn’t quite work like that. Traits aren’t always selected for/against, we have a ton of traits that we’re ambivalent enough about to pass on, like eye color and ear hair. It’s neither advantageous or disadvantageous, people are just horny enough that it doesn’t matter and gets passed on.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I’m assuming OP’s a man as I don’t know any women this has happened to. Men can make babies their whole life, not like women who go through menopause. I know a guy that’s 70, his wife is 30 and their son is 9.

      All that to say, it’s still a little odd this unattractive trait strikes men who can, and often are, looking for mates and making babies.

      • faythofdragons@slrpnk.net
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        6 days ago

        “Unattractive” is highly culturally specific though. Ear hair is so strongly correlated with testosterone levels, there’s gotta be some people that think it’s virile and attractive.

  • 4am@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    Like most things, it’s an accident, a side-effect, a mutation. And, it doesn’t offer any disadvantage that kills you before you have a chance to mate.

    So it continues on, because it doesn’t matter.

  • Naich@lemmings.world
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    7 days ago

    It gives us old farts something to talk about, reinforcing the community of elder carers in the tribe, and thus the health of the tribe.

    That’s bollocks, by the way. All I know is that it’s fucking weird when you have to shave your ear lobes.

  • Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
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    7 days ago

    It’s head hair being excreted out yoir ears. Takes time to work its way down, like medival glass slumping.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Senescent cells emit growth factors. Hair cells divide. More hair in your ear.

    It’s just aging. Not advantageous per se, but species’ lifespan is adapted to their ecosystem.

  • hakunawazo@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Perhaps it is an advantage to feel more sensitive with ear and nose hair, while your eyesight deteriorates.