The apocalypse on 2012?

[Numion]

Don't nearly all creatures with a brain have some form of sleep? It could be something that got incorporated at a very early stage in the development of "thinking" creatures and has been carried forward. Like the qwerty layout has been from typewriters.

Yes they do. But some species require less and some more; there's an inverse size correlation, IIRC, but it's not set in stone. So why have some species evolved to require certain amount on average, and others a different amount? Why are there dreams? Some amount is surely just an upkeep cost for having a brain, but why is sleep in different species the way it is?

 

[Umbran]

Wonder where humanitys want for there to be something beyond our observations comes from. If you get right down into it the things we can observe are wondrous enough to fill at least one lifetime.

Humanity doesn't necessarily want 'something beyond" - humans want an explanation. Once we have an explanation for a phenomenon, we have the hope of using it as a tool.

A great deal of what we call science operates outside the observation of your five senses, on scales you cannot see directly, so that for our entire history there have been effects without know causes. But, at every step, we try to explain.

So, the same drive that yields aliens helping the Mayans also produced the computer you're using to read these messageboards...

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Yes they do. But some species require less and some more; there's an inverse size correlation, IIRC, but it's not set in stone. So why have some species evolved to require certain amount on average, and others a different amount? Why are there dreams? Some amount is surely just an upkeep cost for having a brain, but why is sleep in different species the way it is?

The last theory I'd heard was that, in humans, sleep is a means of keeping us out of trouble.

I.e., if you're sacked out in the cave/tree branch, you're not going to be wandering around in the dark stumbling over tree branches and jaguars.

Really, I suspect there's a certain level of sleep required for almost all animals, and then circumstances dictate how much any given type requires. Predators don't NEED to sleep a lot, but they can and do to save energy.

Brad

 

[Kahuna Burger]

The last theory I'd heard was that, in humans, sleep is a means of keeping us out of trouble.

I.e., if you're sacked out in the cave/tree branch, you're not going to be wandering around in the dark stumbling over tree branches and jaguars.

Really, I suspect there's a certain level of sleep required for almost all animals, and then circumstances dictate how much any given type requires. Predators don't NEED to sleep a lot, but they can and do to save energy.

Brad

hrm, whether it was the original cause or not, human brains do need sleep, esp certain stages of it. It's not just a matter of physical energy recharge.

 

[werk]

hrm, whether it was the original cause or not, human brains do need sleep, esp certain stages of it. It's not just a matter of physical energy recharge.

I like this interesting tangent...do Fish or Insects sleep?

Are there any species of higher life that do not require sleep?

I know these is no sort of relation between mental faculties and sleep because my cats sleep all the time and have yet to do anything truly remarkable.

Dec 2012...the sleeper has awakened?

 

[Rackhir]

I like this interesting tangent...do Fish or Insects sleep?

Are there any species of higher life that do not require sleep?

I know these is no sort of relation between mental faculties and sleep because my cats sleep all the time and have yet to do anything truly remarkable.

Dec 2012...the sleeper has awakened?

Fish do apparently. Insects it is unclear. Neither sleep in quite the way we do, but both have states in which they are resting, inactive and unresponsive to mild stimuluses.

'Insects
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/minsectsleep.html
'Fish
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22598006-30417,00.html

 

[megamania]

Um yeah, sure. .. I have a vision coming in right now: Hmmmmm .. I see that tomorrow morning I'll ....hmmmm..... wake up around ....hmmmmmm.... 8 o'clock, shower, get dressed, eat and go to work.

I'll get back to you tomorrow how it worked out :\

what happens when you educate a dumbass? You get a smartass.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Ah ... if the end of the world is arriving I'll meet and greet it with a Long Island Iced Tea in my hand.

 

[Rackhir]

Ah ... if the end of the world is arriving I'll meet and greet it with a Long Island Iced Tea in my hand.

Trying to get it drunk and have your way with it?

 

[Merkuri]

Ah ... if the end of the world is arriving I'll meet and greet it with a Long Island Iced Tea in my hand.

Is there a restaurant at the end of the world? Perhaps one where the cows will come out and ask me what part of them I'd like to eat today?