Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.
(199/250 words)
Don't you love the feeling of goose bumps? Goose bumps, or piloerections to be pedantic, arise from strong emotions or experiences, whether it be fear, awe, nostalgia, adrenaline rushes or music. Why on earth does our body decide to erect our body hairs when we are overcome with strong emotion? What functional purpose does it serve when we're frightened? The simple answer is that there is none; it is just a redundancy in human physiology much like the appendix, the residue of evolution. In the past, mammals had long hairs to not just to maintain body temperature, but also as a self-defense mechanism; when they felt threatened, the erected hairs on their body to make them appear larger and more intimidating to the aggressor. Evidently, you don't see anyone nowadays erecting their hairs to make them appear more intimidating since our hair is just too short. Besides, people nowadays would find extended hair more disturbing than intimidating. In several hundred years, the redundant piloerections may cease to exist in humans. Now, when the chorus of Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" sends waves of goose bumps from head to toe, I can't help but think about Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
(199/250 words)
Don't you love the feeling of goose bumps? Goose bumps, or piloerections to be pedantic, arise from strong emotions or experiences, whether it be fear, awe, nostalgia, adrenaline rushes or music. Why on earth does our body decide to erect our body hairs when we are overcome with strong emotion? What functional purpose does it serve when we're frightened? The simple answer is that there is none; it is just a redundancy in human physiology much like the appendix, the residue of evolution. In the past, mammals had long hairs to not just to maintain body temperature, but also as a self-defense mechanism; when they felt threatened, the erected hairs on their body to make them appear larger and more intimidating to the aggressor. Evidently, you don't see anyone nowadays erecting their hairs to make them appear more intimidating since our hair is just too short. Besides, people nowadays would find extended hair more disturbing than intimidating. In several hundred years, the redundant piloerections may cease to exist in humans. Now, when the chorus of Pink Floyd's "Us and Them" sends waves of goose bumps from head to toe, I can't help but think about Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
