Left Handers ... Sinistra

[hooa]

Has anyone ever heard an explanation from a creationist as to why God created left handers or why left handers even exist or why all unbelievers arent left handed ...

[Loki]

or why all unbelievers arent left handed ...

They aren't :eek:

[hooa]

LOL ... Cute:)

[wolty]

Left-handed here. I don't think I am any more godless than the next left-hander. :)

Interesting question, but I wouldn't be holding my breath. Creotards have enough problems denigrating the whole idea of evolution, without getting into the small stuff.

[Loki]

Creationists seem to have a problem logically dealling with the big issues, I don't see how they could even begin to think through the smaller consequences of their idiotic suppositions.

Lefty here also.

[hooa]

Mr Black ... Im sorry that witch did that to you ... Your story made me sad ... : (

It still happens ... I recently watched a woman do it to her toddler ... Scolded the poor thing every time she picked up an object with her left hand ... I could only watch it for so long before I told her that what she was doing was wrong ... I was more shocked that left handedness is still discouraged ...

Apparently there are quite a few verses in the bible warning against left handers. Im in another forum where a believer has asked what is the evolutionary benefits of left handedness ... I want to pose the same question but in reverse but Im not quite sure how to start ... Im still trying to gather some info ...

[wolty]

Apparently there are quite a few verses in the bible warning against left handers. Im in another forum where a believer has asked what is the evolutionary benefits of left handedness ... I want to pose the same question but in reverse but Im not quite sure how to start ... Im still trying to gather some info ...

I would love to see those references. Might make me even more ungodly.

Regarding evolutionary benefits, there are none that I can think of, it is just the way the brain has developed over millions of years. I did look into it, ages ago. Something to do with left/right hemispheres. There has been some work done on this, leftys are more artistic maybe. Can't remember.

[wolty]

Lefty here also.

Knew you were a nice person. :)

[nari]

Left-handed people are supposedly faster at games than their counterparts. Somehow the transmission between hemispheres improves if action occurs through normal use of the left hand and not the right.

The Latin sinistra does mean left, but somewhere along the line it came to mean 'evil' and 'sinister'. Can't find why or where.
I suspect the aversion to left-handedness may refer to the second meaning: 'evil' - hence the maniacal attempt to belt L-H kids into submission.

nari

[SchizoDeluxe]

Anything that does not conform to their narrow minded view of the world, anything different, they judge and punish. That is the way of the wacko's of religion.

[nari]

My intuition tells me that the meaning of sinistra was taken by the religious as meaning evil, satanic and whatever.
Probably inaccurate.

nari

[Worldslaziestbusker]

Lefty from a family of lefties.
But that's enough about politics, everyone in my clan is sinistrally dominant too.

I've read a couple of books about it but they were mostly big moans about how hard it is to live in a right handed world, which I'd not noticed till they pointed it out. Still don't see it as a big deal.
I'm not sure it's genetic, and if it's entirely learnt, it can't be treated in terms of selective advantage or disadvantage.
If it is genetic, the only thing I can think that might have kept it afloat in this sea of right handed scissors and can openers is the occasional advantage it would offer when fencing a right handed defender up a spiral staircase.
Looking forward to hearing more on this, particularly if anyone has information on handedness in places where left to right is not the dominant direction for hand writing.
WLB

[Jaar-Gilon]

Regarding evolutionary benefits, there are none that I can think of, it is just the way the brain has developed over millions of years. I did look into it, ages ago. Something to do with left/right hemispheres. There has been some work done on this, leftys are more artistic maybe. Can't remember.

Hi Wolty, you are right. Each side of the body is controlled by the opposite hemisphere so people who are left handed tend to be right brain dominant. The right hemisphere is indeed believed to be the artistic side of the brain wheras the left hemisphere is the more anylitical part of the brain.

I think it is usually wrong to consider single small traits in isolation when one is talking about evolution. In any case there doesn't specifically need to be an evolutionary benefit for a new trait provided the new trait doesn't specifically prevent reproduction or the likelihood of reproduction.

[Worldslaziestbusker]

I'm not sure the whole left brain / right brain thing holds up. Yes, there is a demarcation of activity, but I don't think the personality traits are linked to which hand we prefer to use. I read Robert Winston's "Big Book of Brains" (it might have had a less childish title) and I think that's where I came across news that it's not as cut and dried as left brain = reasoned thinkers, right brain = creative types. Might have been Olliver Sachs, who also debunked the story that we only use 10 % of our brains for me, but sadly the purges have removed both books from easy reach. Will re-read via the libary but it might be quicker to wait for some nuerophysiologist to join the forum and set the record straight with some data.
WLB

[wolty]

Yeah this question only comes up for us leftys.
The rightys just think they are right all the time. :D

Bad bad rightys.

[atheist_angel]

No matter which hand I write with, I can't even read it! I'm cross dominate.

[nari]

Oliver Sacks was right - it is not accurate to say we use only 10% of our brain/s. Can't recall which book he discussed this, but I have all of them, so will look up.

My son-in-law in the seventies was forced to use his right hand to write with by his mother (not the school); however for all other activities he uses his left.

Re hemispheres - each is not exclusively analytical or artistic; there is crossover in many people. The brain is plastic, so someone with a stroke can eventually learn to do things or think things on the contralateral side - provided their cognition is OK. (Cognition can be affected after a right hemisphere infarct or bleed)

I am right-handed, but use my left hand to do tough tasks like opening tight lids on jars; it is much stronger.
Don't know why.

nari

[TING]

Another lefty here. I have a t-shirt that says "God makes everyone right handed. The truly gifted overcome it". I can do without the God reference but it's been interesting to see some of the reactions I get when wearing it. I had one guy actually call me "evil" ! I find it very strange. Some people clearly live wonderful lives to get hung up on such small things. ;)