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Sorry, I wasn't clear. The point is that here B is "is a generalist rather than a specialist" and A is "sleeps more than a specialist". If the claim is "genera

by gjm11 16y ago

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The point is that here B is "is a generalist rather than a specialist" and A is "sleeps more than a specialist". If the claim is "generalists sleep more than specialists" then any instance where a specialist sleeps more is a refutation of the claim if it's made in a very strong form (all generalists sleep more than all specialists) and evidence against the claim if it's made in a weaker form (generalists tend to sleep more than specialists). (It might in some cases be only very weak evidence. Indeed, I think it is only weak evidence here; armadillos and sloths are just two particular cases. So far as I know, though, there's no particular tendency for more-generalist animals to sleep longer.)

dbingham 16y ago
I think the article was talking specifically about humans, and not other species. In that case, there's a baseline of sleep required for a human. Need more than that? You're a generalist. Need less? You're a specialist. When you go bringing in other species you have to change the baseline. Sloths and armadillos sleep as much as they do for other reasons than being worn out from brain plasticity.
- gjm11 16y ago
  > I think the article was talking specifically about humans, and not other species. Um. Looks to me as if it's almost all about _neural plasticity_, which is not at all the same thing as being a generalist human rather than a specialist one. And the only thing I can find in it that says anything about one set of humans versus another is a comment about autism. (Whether there's evidence that autistic people have less neural plasticity, I don't know.) And while I've only skimmed the paper they point to when saying that "one hypothesis holds that sleep is the price we have to pay for plasticity the previous day", I don't see anything in it that says anything about specialist versus generalist humans, or indeed about any group of humans versus any other.

by gjm11 16y ago

dbingham 16y ago

I think the article was talking specifically about humans, and not other species. In that case, there's a baseline of sleep required for a human. Need more than that? You're a generalist. Need less? You're a specialist. When you go bringing in other species you have to change the baseline. Sloths and armadillos sleep as much as they do for other reasons than being worn out from brain plasticity.

gjm11 16y ago
> I think the article was talking specifically about humans, and not other species. Um. Looks to me as if it's almost all about _neural plasticity_, which is not at all the same thing as being a generalist human rather than a specialist one. And the only thing I can find in it that says anything about one set of humans versus another is a comment about autism. (Whether there's evidence that autistic people have less neural plasticity, I don't know.) And while I've only skimmed the paper they point to when saying that "one hypothesis holds that sleep is the price we have to pay for plasticity the previous day", I don't see anything in it that says anything about specialist versus generalist humans, or indeed about any group of humans versus any other.