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I'd be very surprised if it turns out that there's not a major "computational" element to sleep. Sure, it may be difficult to circulate fluid through a waken be

I'd be very surprised if it turns out that there's not a major "computational" element to sleep. Sure, it may be difficult to circulate fluid through a waken beings brain, but I think evolution could have managed. If the "computational resource" is needed for something else though (like running backprop over your neural networks or something :P)... That to me is the only reasonable explanation for the huge evolutionary cost most creatures pay for sleep.

slmrnz 10y ago
Reminds me of the good old days of defragging a Windows hard drive :)
- erikj 10y ago
  It's more like stop-the-world garbage collection.
nkrisc 10y ago
But evolution doesn't "manage" anything. Evolution often plateaus at "good enough." I think this is the risk in the computer metaphor for the brain. Computers have designers that try to optimize them, brains do not.
- zachkatz 10y ago
  As far as we know... It's possible that our invention of computers was and continues to be a slow brew to simulate something innate within us...
wahern 10y ago
What's the huge cost? Most land reptiles and mammals spend most of their time idle anyhow, including humans. In many cases sleep is arguably preferable as the animal is less likely to get itself eaten. If you're not foraging or reproducing, your best bet is to hide and stay still. Because animals, especially land animals, tend to be specialized for particular parts of the day or for other scenarios which preclude 24/7 activity, there's not much that can be done in that idle time. Except improve neurological function, apparently. Animals that need to be constantly in motion have other adaptations. For modern humans the cost can be immense according to our cultural calculus. I'm not sure it's an evolutionary cost. Only time will tell whether those burning the midnight oil have better reproductive success.

slmrnz 10y ago

Reminds me of the good old days of defragging a Windows hard drive :)

erikj 10y ago
It's more like stop-the-world garbage collection.

nkrisc 10y ago

But evolution doesn't "manage" anything. Evolution often plateaus at "good enough." I think this is the risk in the computer metaphor for the brain. Computers have designers that try to optimize them, brains do not.

zachkatz 10y ago
As far as we know... It's possible that our invention of computers was and continues to be a slow brew to simulate something innate within us...

wahern 10y ago

What's the huge cost? Most land reptiles and mammals spend most of their time idle anyhow, including humans. In many cases sleep is arguably preferable as the animal is less likely to get itself eaten. If you're not foraging or reproducing, your best bet is to hide and stay still. Because animals, especially land animals, tend to be specialized for particular parts of the day or for other scenarios which preclude 24/7 activity, there's not much that can be done in that idle time. Except improve neurological function, apparently. Animals that need to be constantly in motion have other adaptations. For modern humans the cost can be immense according to our cultural calculus. I'm not sure it's an evolutionary cost. Only time will tell whether those burning the midnight oil have better reproductive success.