The Naked Age

It's quite a remarkable fact that out of around one hundred million (100,000,000) unique species inhabiting Planet Earth today, human beings are the only one to wear clothes. I think the main reason why our ancestors took up clothing is to protect themselves from the weather, and not due to shame or modesty as proposed by various sources and institutions. We and our surroundings presumably would have been quite different if we, like all our co-inhabitants, wouldn't have worn clothes. It doesn't always imply that technologically advanced species would wear clothes. Steven Spielberg's ET, though capable of displaying extraordinary powers, was naked. Think of how much money one spends in his/her whole lifetime on clothes, not only in buying them for him/herself, but almost an equal amount as presents for friends and families. Being naked, we could have spent this money on various other things. Textile industry wouldn't have been present had we been naked. There wouldn't have risen a need for laundries and tailors. Had we been naked, we could have had options to explore other fields as well, which could not develop considerably due to the presence of clothes. Primarily, being naked would have required ourselves to protect the skin against cold, heat and rain. Given the technologically advanced species we are, it's quite amusing to think of infrastructural differences - more underground subways than roads on the surface. The surface being preserved for residential, industrial and agricultural purposes. In technologically and economically developed countries, air would be maintained at a controlled temperature. Economically it would have been difficult to maintain a controlled environment for the entire land surface of the planet. Hence, tropical regions would have been more densely populated, the density gradually getting sparse towards the poles. To keep ourselves accustomed to the weather, and be spread across the planet at the same time, we would have been much more prone to migration. Mobility would have been a cause for the survival of humanity. There would have been fewer subdivisions among regions, meaning fewer number of nations, who would have been more cooperative and tolerant towards each other. Maps would have been considerably different. During November-January and May-July, when the sun is over the tropics, people would have tended to move more towards the equator where the temperature is moderate. And towards the tropics during February-April and August-October. Due to this need for movement, traveling would have been more a commonplace thing and hence, less regulations on immigration issues. Possibly, by default, every human being would have been considered to be a citizen of not any specific country or region, but of this planet as a whole! Also, there would have risen a need to manage land and property by a centralized body, rather than being owned by specific individuals. Fashion designing would presumably have been present on a large scale. Human beings would have beautified themselves using body art, tattoos, jewelery, body-piercing, different body-hair styles. Salons would have also offered exotic styles of arms, legs, chest and pubic hair. 'How we look' would have meant different. We would have been more conscious of our bodily looks, and maintained proper diet and exercise to stay in shape. In fact, the absence of elastics and tight fitting clothes would have made human physique structurally a bit different from what we are today. We wouldn't have been the same psychologically. Inhibitions would have been considerably less or totally absent. Nudity, being non-secretive, wouldn't have been something to fantasize about. Maybe there would have been more depth and truth in a fantasy. We would rather think about the voice of the other person, about his/her personality, various positions to have sex with him/her, about his/her facial expressions and movements when he/she reaches orgasm. Would there have been less love? I don't think so. Aborigines love too, don't they? Probably they love more than we do. Sex would have been more prevalent and accepted. Forced sex would have been non-existent or extremely rare. Evolution and Being complement each other. Since humans have not chosen the path towards nudity, and have evolved since ages with clothes, it's very difficult to predict how things would have been without them on. Possibly, we and our lives would have taken an entirely new direction than my thoughts above.