The evolutionary role of cooking
economist.com
The evolutionary role of cooking
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Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#2Stating cooking "underpins all other [human evolutionary changes]" sounds interesting if corroborated. I perused the web for some more information on Richard Wrangham's research. Wikipedia provided this:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cooking-up-bigger-brains
http://artsci.wustl.edu/~hpontzer/Courses/Wrangham&Conkl...
...and the evidence points against him. Fire doesn't appear to have been controlled until far after Wangham assests. Not only, but:
The mainstream view among anthropologists is that the increase in human brain-size was due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat.
makes more sense. The transition from primitive food sources (nuts, berries -- chimp food now) may have catalyzed the transition to a regular high-calorie diet. Take this article with a juicy fliet mignon, topped with a generous helping of salt.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#3"he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s “killer app"
Am I the only one that thought killer app was only used in reference to web/technology platforms :)
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#4"he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s “killer app" Am I the only one that thought killer app was only used in reference to web/technology platforms :)
This is called an analogy.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#5"he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s “killer app" Am I the only one that thought killer app was only used in reference to web/technology platforms :)
This is called an analogy.
I know. I just found the analogy interesting, since I didn't think the killer app term was mainstream.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#6Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#7Stating cooking "underpins all other [human evolutionary changes]" sounds interesting if corroborated . I perused the web for some more information on Richard Wrangham's research. Wikipedia provided this: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cooking-up-bigger-brains http://artsci.wustl.edu/~hpontzer/Courses/Wrangham&Conkl... ...and the evidence points against him. Fire doesn't appear to have been controlled until far…
Both the linked article and the sci-am article show that this is hardly a settled matter either way, and that Wrangham's thesis isn't unreasonable.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#8Stating cooking "underpins all other [human evolutionary changes]" sounds interesting if corroborated . I perused the web for some more information on Richard Wrangham's research. Wikipedia provided this: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=cooking-up-bigger-brains http://artsci.wustl.edu/~hpontzer/Courses/Wrangham&Conkl... ...and the evidence points against him. Fire doesn't appear to have been controlled until far…
Both the linked article and the sci-am article show that this is hardly a settled matter either way, and that Wrangham's thesis isn't unreasonable.
Right. I'm of the opinion that human evolution was influenced by a combination of these two factors, in addition to many others. However, given the evidence, I do not think that cooking is the preeminent contributor to cognitive/human/metabolic development.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both the linked article and the sci-am article show that this is hardly a settled matter either way, and that Wrangham's thesis isn't unreasonable.
Right. I'm of the opinion that human evolution was influenced by a combination of these two factors, in addition to many others. However, given the evidence, I do not think that cooking is the preeminent contributor to cognitive/human/metabolic development.
This qualified opinion should have been your original comment.
Re: The evolutionary role of cooking
#10"he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s “killer app" Am I the only one that thought killer app was only used in reference to web/technology platforms :)
No, "killer app" is only used in reference to spreadsheets! :-) Learn your history and think VisiCalc. http://hubpages.com/hub/VisiCalc--the-First-Killer-App-of-th...