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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math

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11296245 No.11296245 [Reply] [Original]

Is it possible that sleep is a vestige of the lack of consciousness that earlier life had? Like how we have tailbones and whales have leg bones and stuff. Sleep (unconsciousness) could be our natural state, but awaking up and being aware of your surroundings is more beneficial for organisms that hunt for their food. So organisms started to gain consciousness, but since their natural state is unconsciousness, they still need to sleep. Think about it like this: the first species to grow fins didn't just instantly develop a perfect fin overnight. A flap or protrusion of skin or whatever would have slowly over numerous generations start to become movable as more and more nerves and muscles grow there by chance. It wouldn't have been completely movable overnight, just like how the ability to stay conscious (awake) would have developed over numerous generations.

Though we can't get rid of sleep just like how we can't get rid of our tailbones or how whales can't get rid of their leg bones. Over time, vestigial limbs change and eventually go away, but maybe sleep has stayed because it's beneficial for organisms to sleep. There's something about the brain that makes it unable to stay awake for a long time, and that inability can be traced back to the first organisms that gained a sort of consciousness. Perhaps a few hundred million years from now animals will no longer need to sleep.

Most of life on earth is not conscious (plants, bacteria, etc...) which just proves that sleep and unconsciousness is our natural state. Even a lot of animals sleep for over 80% of the day. Consciousness is a rare thing for organisms, which is why it's possible that sleep is a vestigial habit of sorts

>> No.11296248

>>11296245
I wish we could go back.

>> No.11297064

>>11296245
i don't have a problem with you being a schizo, they're sometimes pretty based.
unfortunately, you are also a retard.

>> No.11297069
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11297069

>>11297064

>> No.11297265

>>11296245
why is that nigger sleeping during daytime, shouldnt he be at work?

>> No.11297281

>>11296245
I think this an interesting h!

>> No.11298198

>>11297064
>unfortunately, you are also a retard.
Why?

>> No.11298205

>>11296245
>Most of life on earth is not conscious (plants, bacteria, etc...)
That's an unprovable statement.
As far as I can measure, plants do have different activity and metabolic changes during the night and if they are deprived of the day-night cycle, they die. Plants do something analogous to sleep.

>> No.11298251

>>11298205
Plus plants can communicate and form memories in their own way.
Obviously it's no where close to the level animal life is at but it's not nothing.

>> No.11298252

>>11296245
interesting idea op, but afaik during sleep your body actively does some maintenance work on itself, which suggests sleep is not just an evolutionary remnant but performs necessary functions to keep an organism alive.

>> No.11298253

>>11298252
Some people hypothesize it's to clean out waste produced by your brain.

>> No.11298313

>>11296245
Fun hypothesis of repurposing the normal state to become maintenance for a higher state of functioning

>> No.11298340

>>11296245
Yes it's a vestige, that's why you need sleep to release growth hormones and why lack of sleep makes you go insane and leads to death...

>> No.11298819

>>11298340
Except that there are a few that need no sleep and remain sane.

>> No.11299272

>>11296245
"Mr. Spock" sound really interesting on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huxh9YCL5nM

and this guy too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRhtFFhNzQ

>> No.11299333

>>11298819
Who?

>> No.11299384

>>11299333
Sorry, I cannot find the source anymore. I think it was a Chinese guy.

>> No.11299653

I like the idea. What is a state of unconsciousness, to a plant, or to a human. Would it be to have, or to have not?

>> No.11299875

>>11296245
>just like how the ability to stay conscious (awake) would have developed over numerous generations

> logic

>> No.11301578

Is there any animal with a central nervous system that does not sleep? It would be really advantageous in terms of survivability, unless the downside were even greater.

>> No.11301867

>>11296245
No, it's because brains are so energy hungry they burn through their ATP faster than it can be recharged. So they neeed to shut down for a recharge once in a while. It isn't unlike having to rest after sprinting. It could technically be possible to tune brains to go slower, but it's such an expensive issue it probably isn't worth it except for the most majestic animals, like sperm whales.

>> No.11303463

>>11301867
Got a source for that? For it is not as if the brains shut down completely when sleeping.

>> No.11303540 [DELETED] 

>>11303463
But it does shut down. It's even the AMP (brain can ADP down to AMP if it has to) molecule itself that triggers sleepiness.

>> No.11303545

>>11303463
But it does shut down. It's even the AMP (the exhausted form of ATP) molecule itself that triggers sleepiness.

>> No.11303710

>>11296245
You’ve given a considerable amount of thought to a very stupid idea. If it wasn’t so fucking daft it’d be impressive.

>> No.11303721

>>11297265
>niggers working
Good one lad

>> No.11303765

>>11296245
this is very much an /x/ thread

>> No.11303842

>>11303545
>But it does shut down.
How then do you have the energy required to dream?

>>11303765
Do you even know what science is!?