They provide protection against the enviroment, the hard floor, the weather, bugs and other things that I don't want too close, clothes are like a removable skin.

They provide funcionality, it allows me to carry stuff with me in my pockets.

They make it easy to distingush people from a distance and contain a lot of clues about social relations.

If humans were to walk around naked they would need a thick fur in most climates, but then you'd have trouble with things getting stuck in it, washing would be harder and parasites like fleas and ticks would be much harder to get rid of. I think I'll stick to clothes.

Clothes are among the earliest forms of fyborg technology. It is true that in ancient times on the bone dry savannas where we first evolved, clothing wasn't necessary. But our idle minds and tinkering hands couldn't leave it that way for long.

As we spread to new environments, clothing became a necessity, loose, pale and light robes to cool ourselves in the blazing desert, thick fur lined, tunics and pants in the cold mountains and frozen plains of Siberia.

We quickly figured out a lot other advantages aside from keeping warm or cool. Johnny notes some of these. Abrasions in tropical environments quickly get infected and draw insects. Mocassins made from rubber tree sap keep out hookworms and leeches which attack the feet. Pockets. Veils and cloaks keep flying insects out. If you wash frequent them and yourself frequently clothes keep you clean.

In many tropical environments, among tribal peoples, clothing is still minimal.

The skin is mostly left bare because the heat, humidity and sweat can actually make clothing dangerous disease vectors if water and bathing is scarce. Infections and sores are easier find on bare skin as well. So obviously, in those environments, clothing can have drawbacks. But at night you often find these people draping themselves in blankets or mosquito netting to keep the parasites from eating them alive and even among Pygmies, Fore, Yanomamo, !Kung, San and many others you find sandles, mocassins, cod pieces, loin cloths, pouches, belts, purses, etc.

But otherwise, in better or different circumstances, clothing is just too damn useful.

In fact I think nudity, at least in postinidustrial societies, is something of an elitist luxury. It implicitly states you have the money to afford doctors, health clubs, central heating, police protection, liberal social mores and generally tolerant governments.

Look at this from the prospective of a person living in the tropical developing world. Her grandparents may have told her stories of invading European missionaries demanding that the natives wear clothes. Then suddenly, a two or three generations later, all these European and Asian tourists litter their beaches wearing nothing but thongs. Doesn't that strike you as the hight of hypocrisy?

But whatever. Nude protests and streakers happen all the time in postindustrial countries. There, there are plenty of private places, indoors and out, where people can be as nude as they want to be. I'd hardly call this repressive.

Most folks are just modest and prefer to stick with the prevailing norms. Most people now view nudity as a provocative act and it makes them uncomfortable. This not merely religious, it's just habit and mores.

I'd like to add that other people wearing clothes keeps me clean. That chair in the bus station? The guy that was just sitting there was wearing jeans. I'm safe. Hugging that girl that you drink with occasionally? You don't know her health habits.

Aside from that, clothing allows me to stand out among the crowd. Granted, not wearing clothes in our current society would do the same, but it wouldn't do so in the same way.