Pinky toe useless?

[wookiecharmander]

So me and my friend were talking and he eventually said that the pinky toe is useless and after thinking about I'm not sure if it's true or not do you think in 200 years my great great grandchildren won't even have pinky toes are do you think that they hold a secret powerful enough to save the world but we just don't realize it yet or is it truly useless what do you guys think.

[mellow]

would be easier to fall over without it

[Flaif]

Originally posted by an lol mellow | merry xmas!:

would be easier to fall over without it

[Commander Makara]

If you lost your little toe you find it difficult for a while adjusting and learning how to balance without it, but after this period, you'd not be particularly disabled as result.

___

Mankind will not 'evolve away' little toes in 6 generations or so. That's not how it works, nor why - there's still a distinct advantage to possessing 5 fingers - 5 toes and there are no specifc genes encoding specifically 5 over 4 toes.

[Spawn of Totoro]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/fyi-do-i-really-need-my-pinky-toe

In it's self, may not be needed, but it is part of a larger structure that would not exist with out it.

[Fallen Angel]

ancient scripts say if your Pinky toe get hit,you will die painfully.

[Dodece]

When you compare our hind feet to those of other primates the trend would appear to be towards losing our toes altogether. They have gotten smaller, weaker, and less flexible over time. These toes of our were originally designed for grasping as opposed to running of walking, and they can't really grasp anymore. Maybe the odd sock off the floor, but not much beyond that. They tend to be easy to tickle, but tickling seems to be a survival strategy to teach the young about the parts of their body that are the most vulnerable.

Will that mean they are going away. Well probably not as a result of natural selection. The fact of the matter is they fall within that grey area where they provide little benefit, but also do little real harm to the organism. Nobody is going to win at life through having even smaller toes. Nobody is going to lose at life for having our current set of toes. Natural selection does require some form of selection pressure in which to work. However natural selection is a moot point as far as what we are talking about here.

Humans are far less subject to natural selection then they are to artificial selection. Ultimately it is going to become more of a question regarding our own opinion on the subject. Do we want to keep them or not. The choice is most likely going to be entirely up to us as a species. Looking two hundred years out from now with our current rate of progress. Your descendents might not even have physical bodies, or physical bodies they can change on a whim.

[wookiecharmander]

So I guess pinkies really are useless oh well.

[↑↑↓↓←→←→BASelect]

I have 12 toes. 6 on each foot.

[Washell]

The pinky toe is exceptionally useful for finding furniture in the dark.

[Commander Makara]

Originally posted by Wookiecharmander:

So I guess pinkies really are useless oh well.

I value all of my digits.

Whenever I may be in a situation where the bad guys will cut off one of my toes or fingers as a punishment - I want all the collateral I can carry (or have attached to cartilege) - should such a scenario present itself. Ec´xtremely unlikely, but I like to be prepared for eventualities.

[Ⓥenom Ⓢnake 🐍]

Originally posted by Commander Makara:

Originally posted by Wookiecharmander:

So I guess pinkies really are useless oh well.

I value all of my digits.

Whenever I may be in a situation where the bad guys will cut off one of my toes or fingers as a punishment - I want all the collateral I can carry (or have attached to cartilege) - should such a scenario present itself. Ec´xtremely unlikely, but I like to be prepared for eventualities.

And now I am thinking about the ending of the movie Payback. Dang it.

As for the question...

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/fyi-do-i-really-need-my-pinky-toe

[僕の名前 (仮)]

Population of humans is too big for natural selection work like that. Unless there will be lot of people who for some reason will marry mutants without pinky toe.

People without pinky toe don't have any advantages over people who have pinky toe, so I dont think natural selection will work here.

And I dont think it's useless, you still stand on it.

[s]

its not vestigal so its not uselss

[Reepus Vanguard]

"Your useless"
-pinky toe