Kosh

Oolon, did you see this? I thought you were
concerned about creationists over there!? Don't
worry, they're all Lamarckian evolutionists!

<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/03/26/gadgets.thumbs.reut/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/03/26/gadgets.thumbs.reut/index.html</a>

pseudobug

Ah, don't you just love an educated "journalist"?

As for the "mutated" thumbs, it's a change from my youth. We were always warned about hair growing in our palms.

Now kids gotta have electronic mental masturbation devices.

Automaton

"A physical mutation in the hand"?!

Oolon Colluphid

(Note the icon on this post! )

Apart from the 'mutation' idea, this is old news I'm afraid. At least, when I read it in New Scientist (IIRC) some months back, it wasn't a mutation...

As for it being young people... hey, that's great! 35 and I'm still young! To anyone who owned a Sega Megadrive (remember them? ), the thumb is the only digit to use for these things. (Still can't get the hang of texting though )

I also read that in habitual thumb-users, the thumb has become the main digit with which to point to things...

Cheers, Oolon

Kosh

And it looks like perhaps the environment is about
to favor those thumb pointers....

<a href="http://www.myzaurus.com" target="_blank">http://www.myzaurus.com</a>

If I'm not mistaken, this little gadget has the
power of those Sun workstations I was programming
in the early 90s. Seems like those with mutated
thumbs will thrive!

Makes sense. We could trace it back to all
the hitchhiking "love" hippies of the 60s.
They spent a fair amount of time hitchhiking
(using their thumbs) around the country, then
having "love ins", which no doubt led to a
proliferation of the mutated thumb genes in
the population..... who ever guessed the hippies
would be responsible for the Gameboy generation?
(mega smilies for the humor inhibited)