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Post by rmc on Jan 16, 2021 15:00:56 GMT
I posit that tens or even hundreds of thousands of years ago, early man benefitted most by creating circumstances that allowed many hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Before that were possible, the threat of being killed one way or another at night, (just like any other animal), caused very broken patterns of sleep, preventing the frontal cortex from more easily developing into what we have today.
Some say settling into communities, or choosing a meat diet helped develop the human brain. I argue sleep, uninterrupted sleep was at least as much a huge contributing factor.
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Post by the light works on Jan 16, 2021 20:17:44 GMT
interesting theory. how would a person test it? theoretically, of course, because I don't have a couple spare eons for long term observation.
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Post by rmc on Jan 16, 2021 20:58:24 GMT
interesting theory. how would a person test it? theoretically, of course, because I don't have a couple spare eons for long term observation. Good question. All I have at the moment is something akin to the steps astrophysicists took to determine there was a "Big Bang". In their situation they noticed a universe expanding over time. If they reversed the situation, the universe goes toward some sort of singularity. In my problem, I see some evidence that lack of sleep degrades the frontal cortex, hippocampal regions and some other things. Such that a human unable to sleep for long, uninterrupted sets would have little chance maintaining, let alone creating the frontal cortex. Now, it would be a stretch to say sleep would create those areas, but it does follow, since sleep replenishes and rejuvenates those areas, sleep is key to their health... But, other than that, I got nothing at the moment. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 16, 2021 22:40:20 GMT
interesting theory. how would a person test it? theoretically, of course, because I don't have a couple spare eons for long term observation. Good question. All I have at the moment is something akin to the steps astrophysicists took to determine there was a "Big Bang". In their situation they noticed a universe expanding over time. If they reversed the situation, the universe goes toward some sort of singularity. In my problem, I see some evidence that lack of sleep degrades the frontal cortex, hippocampal regions and some other things. Such that a human unable to sleep for long, uninterrupted sets would have little chance maintaining, let alone creating the frontal cortex. Now, it would be a stretch to say sleep would create those areas, but it does follow, since sleep replenishes and rejuvenates those areas, sleep is key to their health... But, other than that, I got nothing at the moment. there is also a theory out there that europeans developed their societies because they were in the sweet spot in between needing to use all their available energy just to survive, and not really needing to put much effort into survival at all. so they had the motivation to innovate, but also had the available time. the adequate sleep theory kind of nests in with that - but there's also got to be a biological component, otherwise sloths would rule the world. |
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Post by rmc on Jan 17, 2021 0:11:20 GMT
Good question. All I have at the moment is something akin to the steps astrophysicists took to determine there was a "Big Bang". In their situation they noticed a universe expanding over time. If they reversed the situation, the universe goes toward some sort of singularity. In my problem, I see some evidence that lack of sleep degrades the frontal cortex, hippocampal regions and some other things. Such that a human unable to sleep for long, uninterrupted sets would have little chance maintaining, let alone creating the frontal cortex. Now, it would be a stretch to say sleep would create those areas, but it does follow, since sleep replenishes and rejuvenates those areas, sleep is key to their health... But, other than that, I got nothing at the moment. there is also a theory out there that europeans developed their societies because they were in the sweet spot in between needing to use all their available energy just to survive, and not really needing to put much effort into survival at all. so they had the motivation to innovate, but also had the available time. the adequate sleep theory kind of nests in with that - but there's also got to be a biological component, otherwise sloths would rule the world. You're right. The Sloth has too few problems to solve, so extra sleep is just extra sleep. If you are trying to accomplish more than mere survival, it might be the uninterrupted longer periods of sleep combine with that extra brain activity, sparking tissue improvement, over time and generations. Or, it could be that the frontal cortex of mainly all hominids is supposed to be able to better develop, but had been held back slightly due to nightly pressures of basic survival, and not having longer to just sleep. Please, don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying Cro magnon was walking around all tired all the time because he was disturbed by a lion during the night. What I'm saying is such interruptions likely made cro magnon more "comfortable" getting along on cat naps, rather than a full eight hours of lying still on the desert floor. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 17, 2021 2:35:55 GMT
there is also a theory out there that europeans developed their societies because they were in the sweet spot in between needing to use all their available energy just to survive, and not really needing to put much effort into survival at all. so they had the motivation to innovate, but also had the available time. the adequate sleep theory kind of nests in with that - but there's also got to be a biological component, otherwise sloths would rule the world. You're right. The Sloth has too few problems to solve, so extra sleep is just extra sleep. If you are trying to accomplish more than mere survival, it might be the uninterrupted longer periods of sleep combine with that extra brain activity, sparking tissue improvement, over time and generations. Or, it could be that the frontal cortex of mainly all hominids is supposed to be able to better develop, but had been held back slightly due to nightly pressures of basic survival, and not having longer to just sleep. Please, don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying Cro magnon was walking around all tired all the time because he was disturbed by a lion during the night. What I'm saying is such interruptions likely made cro magnon more "comfortable" getting along on cat naps, rather than a full eight hours of lying still on the desert floor. yeah, we've seen a lot more of the idea that there is biological potential, and then there are environmental considerations, that affect whether a creature reaches its biological potential - so is this more a case of explaining why technology is a relatively new invention? did we have to make the step of developing noighttime security before we could get enough rest to dream up civilization? |
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Post by mrfatso on Jan 17, 2021 11:27:38 GMT
I posit that tens or even hundreds of thousands of years ago, early man benefitted most by creating circumstances that allowed many hours of uninterrupted sleep. Before that were possible, the threat of being killed one way or another at night, (just like any other animal), caused very broken patterns of sleep, preventing the frontal cortex from more easily developing into what we have today. Some say settling into communities, or choosing a meat diet helped develop the human brain. I argue sleep, uninterrupted sleep was at least as much a huge contributing factor. It could be said that settling into communities brought about the circumstances where individuals could sleep for longer. Some take on the task to guard at night whilst others sleep. |
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Post by rmc on Jan 17, 2021 12:11:06 GMT
I posit that tens or even hundreds of thousands of years ago, early man benefitted most by creating circumstances that allowed many hours of uninterrupted sleep. Before that were possible, the threat of being killed one way or another at night, (just like any other animal), caused very broken patterns of sleep, preventing the frontal cortex from more easily developing into what we have today. Some say settling into communities, or choosing a meat diet helped develop the human brain. I argue sleep, uninterrupted sleep was at least as much a huge contributing factor. It could be said that settling into communities brought about the circumstances where individuals could sleep for longer. Some take on the task to guard at night whilst others sleep. Right. I suppose it's another "which was first, the chicken or the egg" type question. To me it's the egg, because the parent was just that much different... anyway, that's a different scenario altogether. Civilization allowed for many, many things. The continued spiral upward in evolutionary development is likely one of those things. To me, your "home" is where you sleep best. If you are deprived of sleep, you'll likely do something about it, more often than not moving to a place where you can sleep happens. So, central to settling into a place, a "civilization", is the so called bedroom. Once you've got a good one of those, and can keep such a thing for generations, I think all dreams are possible. Like The Light Works said. |
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Post by the light works on Jan 17, 2021 15:36:32 GMT
"I had eggs for breakfast, and chicken for dinner. problem solved"
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