Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Meat Made Us Human


Subdeacon Joe

Recommended Posts

Interesting;

 

An ape's ribcage widens as it descends making room for a large gut to ferment plant matter.

 

The human ribcage tapers as it descends as our digestive tract is about ½ the size as would be expected for a similar-size primate.

 

An ape has a small head.

Humans have huge heads.

 

These are telling pieces of anatomy. Why?

 

The Expensive Tissue Hypothesis tells of an important tradeoff:

 

Our brain weighs 5X what you’d expect for a mammal our size. 

 

It uses 20% of our daily energy expenditure, burning calories at 10X the rate of the body as a whole.

 

(...it takes a lot of energy to fire nerve cells and pump ions across cell membranes)

 

But humans don’t burn more calories than is expected of a mammal our size.

 

We have an energy budget that we must balance, and the brain takes a huge chunk of that balance. 

 

Thus, we have a conundrum, the brain's huge energy expenditure has to be offset by something else.

 

The gut took the fall.

 

If you add our gut and our brain together, their summed weight IS what you'd predict for a mammal our size. 

 

The energy saved by a smaller gut compensates for that required by a larger brain.

 

Humans sacrifice gut size and the ability to process plant material for a big brain that facilitates hunting success via intelligence, language, tool- / weapon-making, and cooperation.

 

TL;DR

 

We aren't the biggest, fastest, or strongest animal, but by sacrificing our large plant-processing gut we could fuel an outsized brain with meat - the tradeoff (gut for brain) that catapulted us to the top of the food chain.

 

Meat made us human.

 

FB_IMG_1659671961035.thumb.jpg.587f90477a82d0ff0da324666fd7825f.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, Muggle said:

Over to all the Darwinians.

 

I truly hope I'm not about to get another thread shut down, and I may be typing this because I'm still on my first cup of coffee. Most evolutionary biologists and others I know who accept the scientific validity of evolutionary theory don't call themselves "Darwinians" for a variety of reasons. It is often used as a pejorative by those who do not accept the science. But, I will gladly take up the mantle for now. In response to @Subdeacon Joe, yes, meat made us human, but even though you can't tell it by looking at modern people, so did running after that meat. The below is a rather dry article looking at the evolutionary basis of human running.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939291/

 

There's another article I read about six months ago, maybe longer that I will try to locate that is less scientific that discusses how humans would run as a group to hunt. Based on looking at modern marathoners of all types, the article analogized the top runners as those who would be in the lead to actually get the game. But it went on to point out that well trained females, even when pregnant, relatively post pregnancy, and older runners both male and female, are capable of marathon times that would enable them to not only help with tasks associated with the hunt, but in partaking in the spoils as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are OMNIVORES, we eat meat and plants. It;s interesting that many species of hominids that were vegetarians did not make it. Neanderthals survived for a long time on meat and plants, they  seemed to have been pushed out by us CroMagnons and also interbred with us.

Interesting stuff! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Well, theories are like, mmmm, elbows. Everybody has has one or two.


Not scientific theories 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Well, theories are like, mmmm, elbows. Everybody has has one or two.

Evolutionary theories are based on bones and skulls they found. It's kinda like detectives finding bones and skulls and saying, Hmmm what have we here?? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SHOOTIN FOX said:

Ever notice that some people have larger k9 teeth than others. Keep an eye out. Some people do not have k9 teethe that extend below the regular teeth. Could be genetics or evolution. Just food for thought.

Or in the case of extra long canines….

http://lazybobranch.homestead.com/POMES/SilverBulleLove.html

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Running away from other meat eaters also helped us develope good legs. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

This should cause tremors, seizures, and fits in vegans and vegetarians.

 

HUMMM! 

Does this mean that vegetarians will ultimately re-evolve into apes in a few millennia?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

 

HUMMM! 

Does this mean that vegetarians will ultimately re-evolve into apes in a few millennia?

Some already have. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

The history of science is full of conflicting theories.

 

I fail to see the relevance of your statement. Yes, scientific theories come into conflict. Eventually, the one that is best supported by the evidence-- the facts, the data, the current understanding of things as we know them to be-- wins out. I should be more clear. Evolution itself is a scientific fact, Evolutionary theory, by which I mean the explanation of how evolution brought us to where we are now, is based upon the facts as we know them to be at this point in time, across a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines. There have been so many advances and discoveries since Darwin's time that the theory as it exists is far removed from his work. As further research is done, and discoveries are made, one should presume that the established model or models will be modified to fit the new findings.

I should probably stop here, before a create problems and ruffle feathers. Anyone who would like to continue the conversation in private messages though, should feel free to message me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And weapons.  Very primitive but not long on a historical scale, GUNPOWDER,  we made gunpowder for  the critters we couldn't out run.

7 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Some already have. 

And some will never make it past the IQ barrier. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.