Lamarck, Wolfe and Exultants

Jack Smith · 05 Aug 2010, 15:43 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: jack.smith.1946 at gmail.com (Jack Smith)
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 11:43:12 -0400
Subject: (urth) Lamarck, Wolfe and Exultants
In-Reply-To: <44A14617-AF21-4283-AB52-E601EF5057E4 at liftingfaces.com>
References: <0A589998-8CB7-4024-A68A-F47FFB410726 at liftingfaces.com>
	<AANLkTinR5XkCAe5qOnY+ynt4=BCFfqEcWUPMwt4fUZer at mail.gmail.com>
	<44A14617-AF21-4283-AB52-E601EF5057E4 at liftingfaces.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinb5NwzA0t7QAG68MdFn=2XaYxL01t4MRd3hMQs at mail.gmail.com>

I believe there are a number of references to Severian being tall,  and he's
around 6' and his mother is probably an exultant.  I think Urth's common
folk are shorter than people today.  But you only have to go back two
hundred years or so to have average heights 6 or 8 inches less than today.
 This is mostly due to better nutrition.  On Urth with its dying sun and
spent resources, we would expect nutrition levels to be worse and people to
be shorter.




On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com> wrote:

> Does this mean that common folk should be notably shorter then? Severian's
> height, were he on our planet, in most Western cultures, wouldn't raise an
> eyebrow high enough to stir thoughts of exulted blood.
>
> I know his high cheekbones also indicates he may be some sort of Urthian
> bastard royalty, but I still wonder about the size of non exultant people of
> the Commonwealth.
>
> ...ryan
>
> On Aug 5, 2010, at 6:22 AM, Jack Smith <jack.smith.1946 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Exultants could result from Darwinian evolution alone, without any
> genetic engineering.   According to Wolfe, Severian is about 6' or 6'1", and
> Thecla is a head taller (around 7' or 7'1").  Male exultants seem to be
> about 7'6" to 8'.    Such heights are uncommon for us, but still within the
> range of the possible.  The tallest NBA player is 7'6" and the tallest WNBA
> player is 7'2".
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-- 
Best wishes,
Jack
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