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Humans (since Erectus) _can't_ eat more. We don't have a big enough ingestion system for that. Our guts are tiny compared to other great apes. We're completely

by Tor3 3y ago

Humans (since Erectus) _can't_ eat more. We don't have a big enough ingestion system for that. Our guts are tiny compared to other great apes. We're completely unable to survive on what chimpanzees eat, not to mention gorillas. The fire/cooked food hypothesis (and now this speculative one about fermented food) is that it made it possible to greatly reduce the guts, as well as chewing muscles. More calories and better nutrients (both cooking and fermentation greatly improves the nutritional value of many foods), and less need of energy for guts is what's supposed to be the driver here (and seafood has also been mentioned as a possible source of important amino acids which is necessary for brain development)

AlecSchueler 3y ago
Sounds like "standing up" was the real pivotal moment.
wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
but we can, you can perfectly fine live on raw meat (pork back fat) nuts etc. And Guts also shrank because they could. It sounds to me like this part mostly came after we learned to cook, then the body didn't need to waste energy on large complex guts. Hugely complicated brains such as Elephants & Whales do just fine on raw food diets.
- Tor3 3y ago
  Erectus are about 2 million years old, and they already had "our" body shape.. i.e. small guts. The question has always been - did they already know how to cook? It's somewhat early for fire control. But it is one of the arguments for the idea that fire/cooking came much earlier than we have physical evidence for. This study/idea about fermented food is exactly about this - if there wasn't fire that early, could it have been fermentation?
  - wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
    Some of it makes sense. The question why & when humans gut could start to shrink. It seems more the other way around in my view, brain development helped develop cooking & other preparation methods and in turn to the need for less complicated guts.
berkes 3y ago
> Humans (since Erectus) _can't_ eat more Again, the question is not if they can (they can't) but WHY. Or, differently, what is the cause, and what the effect.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  The cause is selective pressure and the effect is evolutionary change.
Anotheroneagain 3y ago
What do you mean? They eat mostly fruit and vegetables.
- Tor3 3y ago
  The top comment on this thread (https://www.quora.com/Could-a-human-being-survive-on-the-diet-of-a-wild-chimpanzee https://www.quora.com/Could-a-human-being-survive-on-the-die...) matches what I've learned about this elsewhere. Just that "chewing for six hours a day" part is a problem.. As for gorillas - that's mostly leaves, shoots and stems. All very hard to digest, a human wouldn't get much nutrients out of that.
  - Anotheroneagain 3y ago
    Sycamore figs are 100% edible, I think it's the predominant species grown in more southern areas.
    - Tor3 3y ago
      That's fine, but you can't survive only on Sycamore figs - and that's the problem.

by Tor3 3y ago

AlecSchueler 3y ago

Sounds like "standing up" was the real pivotal moment.

wouldbecouldbe 3y ago

but we can, you can perfectly fine live on raw meat (pork back fat) nuts etc. And Guts also shrank because they could. It sounds to me like this part mostly came after we learned to cook, then the body didn't need to waste energy on large complex guts. Hugely complicated brains such as Elephants & Whales do just fine on raw food diets.

Tor3 3y ago
Erectus are about 2 million years old, and they already had "our" body shape.. i.e. small guts. The question has always been - did they already know how to cook? It's somewhat early for fire control. But it is one of the arguments for the idea that fire/cooking came much earlier than we have physical evidence for. This study/idea about fermented food is exactly about this - if there wasn't fire that early, could it have been fermentation?
- wouldbecouldbe 3y ago
  Some of it makes sense. The question why & when humans gut could start to shrink. It seems more the other way around in my view, brain development helped develop cooking & other preparation methods and in turn to the need for less complicated guts.

berkes 3y ago

> Humans (since Erectus) _can't_ eat more Again, the question is not if they can (they can't) but WHY. Or, differently, what is the cause, and what the effect.

kjkjadksj 3y ago
The cause is selective pressure and the effect is evolutionary change.

Anotheroneagain 3y ago

What do you mean? They eat mostly fruit and vegetables.

Tor3 3y ago
The top comment on this thread (https://www.quora.com/Could-a-human-being-survive-on-the-diet-of-a-wild-chimpanzee https://www.quora.com/Could-a-human-being-survive-on-the-die...) matches what I've learned about this elsewhere. Just that "chewing for six hours a day" part is a problem.. As for gorillas - that's mostly leaves, shoots and stems. All very hard to digest, a human wouldn't get much nutrients out of that.
- Anotheroneagain 3y ago
  Sycamore figs are 100% edible, I think it's the predominant species grown in more southern areas.
  - Tor3 3y ago
    That's fine, but you can't survive only on Sycamore figs - and that's the problem.