Study Finds That All Blue-Eyed People Share a Common Ancestor

submitted by Canbot from mymodernmet.com

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[–]Canbot[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (10 children)

I find that claim to be dubious. Ancient Egyptian hyroglyphs show white skinned Egyptians. Blue eyes are still rare, even amung white people. I understand that it is a recessive gene, but so is white skin. It does not make sense for white skin to be so much more prevalent if it developed later.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (9 children)

I've been to Egypt. The paintings definitely don't show white people.

You are also ignoring that in clearly a very hot and sunny place like Egypt the environment will select against blue eyes while the northern climate will select for them (blue eyes are more sensitive to light and therefore blindness). This mattered more than spread of population in a time when many people died in infancy before they could reproduce.

[–]Canbot[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (8 children)

Blue eyed people don't go blind in tropical climates, at best they squint more. Next time you go to Egypt take a better look.

No-one is dying of blue eyes, they would die of skin cancer pre sunblock. Obviously in Egypt they would be tan, but thier ancestors obviously came from Europe where white skin developed and predated even the hyroglyphs.

Also your claim that blue eyes are more susceptible to blindness is just wrong. Your claim that sensitivity to light must mean susceptibility to blindness is wrong.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That isn't even an original pic of an Egyptian painting. 🤦‍♀️

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

Maybe u/jet199 means temporary "snow blindness," although that happened to me frequently in Canada at dawn when we'd go fishing there. Never had a problem in the subtropics. Couldn't see a damn thing in the morning sun till my eyes acclimated, somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes probably. Real inconvenient if you wake needing to use the bathroom bad.

And worse was from the water one time, couldn't see for an entire day.

My night vision sucks too, heard that was also related to light colored eyes.

[–]Canbot[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

It doesn't make sense to be sensitive to light and also insensitive to light. You are just blind. Blue eyed people have better night vision. It has nothing to do with the color of the iris, just the sensitivity

As far as the claim about blindness it is clearly a bad assumption drawn from the fact that blue eyed people are more sensitive to light. Which is very mild anyway. People wouldn't even notice if they hadn't heard about it before.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

sensitive to light and also insensitive to light.

I think the bad night vision is from being too sensitive. I see halos, and other driver's lights are blinding.

Could just be eye problems too. Never heard of anyone else who couldn't see in the morning.

[–]Canbot[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

People who wear glasses always have that complaint. I have great night vision and love driving at night. Everything is lit up and sharp.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I rly don't think the color of your eye affects your vision or sensitivity.. vision is taken in as light by your iris (and your Iris automatically adjusts for light - when you go out into the light it becomes a pin, when you enter a dark room it dilates), which the back of your brain (the occipital lobe), uses as "3D renders" to form an image.

I have many different eye colors in my family, only one other besides me is blue because I believe brown is the dominant phenotype.

But I'm the only person in my family with 20/20 vision since childhood lol.

please correct me if I'm wrong lol

[–]Canbot[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I agree that the iris shouldn't affect sensitivity but that effect has been measured (I believe). The explanation I have heard is that pigments in other layers of the eye have an effect, but I don't know exactly what that refers to. I also think it is possible for there to be a secondary effect to the eye from either the same gene modification or a second gene that usually accompanies the blue eye gene. But that is speculation.

Or the whole thing could be measuring error, or bullshit. But without a competing study to show that I'm going to say the original study is most likely true.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thx for the explanation, I didn't even think of it like that!

I have heard that pigments in other layers of the eye have an effect, but I don't know exactly what that refers to.

I think I get it, and that actually does make sense in terms of the whole eye color and sight thing.. if you think about the eye in terms of the color of a t-shirt for example, black shirts will absorb more light and store more energy so they get hotter, whereas white shirts reflect the light and are cooler.

So if you put that thinking in context with this eye thing, it would make sense for the color around the iris to be dark, to direct more light into it.

The only thing I find confusing (which could be bs & mean nothing), is my personal experience, where like I said, I am one of two in my family with blue eyes, most have brown and then green. I'm literally the only one with 20/20 vision since childhood, and multiple family members wear glasses.

If the dark brown color attracts and helps direct light into the iris, shouldn't brown-colored eyes always win over blue? It has to be a genetic or possible secondary effect from the mutation that isn't accounted for like you said.