May have looked more like...
At least that's what Professor Richard Wrangham claims in his book Catching Fire. In an interview with the folks at Bloomberg, Wrangham states:
You have these two big effects -- you get more energy out of your food, so humans could survive and reproduce faster. Cooking also made the food softer, which changed the activity budgets: It reduced chewing time enormously, so suddenly you have individuals who have several extra hours a day to reorganize their lives.
Initially, I resisted his second point. It's very clear that when anybody lights up a grill today, others in the area have to stand around it. They don't even have to talk. Beer helps.
Wrangham makes a few claims with regard to the several extra hours a day to reorganize. Specifically, the advent of cooking permitted more time to fool with tools, roam the land as well as...
Smaller guts (What's that Bill Dauterive?)
Obesity (Ahh, I hear ya.)
Patriarchy, and
Dangerous Behaviors
Obesity? Patriarchy? Dangerous behaviors? Are we really better off? I mean, Bonobos have it pretty good, and they don't cook at all. I'm sure Prometheus has something to say on the matter...
Oh, never mind.
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