Acceleration, from an evolutionary viewpoint..
Discussion
Bit of a stream-of-consciousness here, guys.. bear with me though. Cliff notes at the end if you want to skip to them 
In general, I think as a species, us humans love the feeling of acceleration. Fast cars, roller-coasters and fairground rides all seem to trigger something primal in our brains.
It's a relatively new thing too.. up until, say, 100 years ago, the only way you'd feel any significant level of acceleration was if you had fallen off a cliff or were in some other life threatening situation. It's only recently we've taken to accelerating ourselves for fun, and we love it!
I think there are parallels between acceleration and sugary/fatty foods. Throught the history of our species, fatty foods have been rare and prized. Our brains have been wired to seek out these types of foods, which in the past have ensured our survival and supplied our energy requirements.. but these days account for an overweight population. Could the willingness to seek out acceleration be something similar?
Our brains have been evolving for a few hundred million years, and it's only the last 100 that we've been able to subject our bodies to the feeling of acceleration. Some animals, perhaps the Peregine Falcon, would be able to experience these sensations regularly, but for us humans it's a completely new and novel phenomenon. Perhaps it triggers something that somehow reminds us of swinging through the trees? I'm not an expert in evolution, but didn't our distant ancestors come from the same evolutionary line as birds? Perhaps it's something to do with that.. who knows.
Any thoughts?
Cliff notes: Why does speed and acceleration feel so good?
In general, I think as a species, us humans love the feeling of acceleration. Fast cars, roller-coasters and fairground rides all seem to trigger something primal in our brains.
It's a relatively new thing too.. up until, say, 100 years ago, the only way you'd feel any significant level of acceleration was if you had fallen off a cliff or were in some other life threatening situation. It's only recently we've taken to accelerating ourselves for fun, and we love it!
I think there are parallels between acceleration and sugary/fatty foods. Throught the history of our species, fatty foods have been rare and prized. Our brains have been wired to seek out these types of foods, which in the past have ensured our survival and supplied our energy requirements.. but these days account for an overweight population. Could the willingness to seek out acceleration be something similar?
Our brains have been evolving for a few hundred million years, and it's only the last 100 that we've been able to subject our bodies to the feeling of acceleration. Some animals, perhaps the Peregine Falcon, would be able to experience these sensations regularly, but for us humans it's a completely new and novel phenomenon. Perhaps it triggers something that somehow reminds us of swinging through the trees? I'm not an expert in evolution, but didn't our distant ancestors come from the same evolutionary line as birds? Perhaps it's something to do with that.. who knows.
Any thoughts?
Cliff notes: Why does speed and acceleration feel so good?
erdnase said:
I'm not an expert in evolution, but didn't our distant ancestors come from the same evolutionary line as birds?
I pretty sure that is not the case. It is thought that birds evolved from dinasaurs (links between the two have been found). We evolved from chimp-like apes way after birds existed. When birds were evolving, we were probably small shrew like mammals.ETA: screwed up quoting - twice
Edited by balders118 on Sunday 12th September 19:07
Edited by balders118 on Sunday 12th September 19:08
jbi said:
not quite right...
Apparently chimps and humans "evolved" separately from an as yet undiscovered "common" ancestor
like I said, chimp-like ape. Apparently chimps and humans "evolved" separately from an as yet undiscovered "common" ancestor
. What we evolved from would not have been a chimpanzee like we know today, but similar.Edited by balders118 on Sunday 12th September 19:48
erdnase said:
Bit of a stream-of-consciousness here, guys.. bear with me though. Cliff notes at the end if you want to skip to them
In general, I think as a species, us humans love the feeling of acceleration. Fast cars, roller-coasters and fairground rides all seem to trigger something primal in our brains.
It's a relatively new thing too.. up until, say, 100 years ago, the only way you'd feel any significant level of acceleration was if you had fallen off a cliff or were in some other life threatening situation. It's only recently we've taken to accelerating ourselves for fun, and we love it!
I think there are parallels between acceleration and sugary/fatty foods. Throught the history of our species, fatty foods have been rare and prized. Our brains have been wired to seek out these types of foods, which in the past have ensured our survival and supplied our energy requirements.. but these days account for an overweight population. Could the willingness to seek out acceleration be something similar?
Our brains have been evolving for a few hundred million years, and it's only the last 100 that we've been able to subject our bodies to the feeling of acceleration. Some animals, perhaps the Peregine Falcon, would be able to experience these sensations regularly, but for us humans it's a completely new and novel phenomenon. Perhaps it triggers something that somehow reminds us of swinging through the trees? I'm not an expert in evolution, but didn't our distant ancestors come from the same evolutionary line as birds? Perhaps it's something to do with that.. who knows.
Any thoughts?
Cliff notes: Why does speed and acceleration feel so good?
In general, I think as a species, us humans love the feeling of acceleration. Fast cars, roller-coasters and fairground rides all seem to trigger something primal in our brains.
It's a relatively new thing too.. up until, say, 100 years ago, the only way you'd feel any significant level of acceleration was if you had fallen off a cliff or were in some other life threatening situation. It's only recently we've taken to accelerating ourselves for fun, and we love it!
I think there are parallels between acceleration and sugary/fatty foods. Throught the history of our species, fatty foods have been rare and prized. Our brains have been wired to seek out these types of foods, which in the past have ensured our survival and supplied our energy requirements.. but these days account for an overweight population. Could the willingness to seek out acceleration be something similar?
Our brains have been evolving for a few hundred million years, and it's only the last 100 that we've been able to subject our bodies to the feeling of acceleration. Some animals, perhaps the Peregine Falcon, would be able to experience these sensations regularly, but for us humans it's a completely new and novel phenomenon. Perhaps it triggers something that somehow reminds us of swinging through the trees? I'm not an expert in evolution, but didn't our distant ancestors come from the same evolutionary line as birds? Perhaps it's something to do with that.. who knows.
Any thoughts?
Cliff notes: Why does speed and acceleration feel so good?
Absolutely f
king awesomeCheers for your thoughts and input, guys!
Throught the evolution of our species, do you think anyone has ever travelled at faster than terminal velocity, prior to a few hundred years ago? I'm sure the odd caveman has jumped/fallen off a cliff and maybe survived by hitting water, and that "speed record" must have have stood for millions of years (but been equaled, never beaten, many times!)
I can't think of a way to get faster than that, without technology.
Throught the evolution of our species, do you think anyone has ever travelled at faster than terminal velocity, prior to a few hundred years ago? I'm sure the odd caveman has jumped/fallen off a cliff and maybe survived by hitting water, and that "speed record" must have have stood for millions of years (but been equaled, never beaten, many times!)
I can't think of a way to get faster than that, without technology.
OP - interesting thought, definitely overlaps with ones I've had:
'We' (posters here) are lucky enough that life is pretty unthreatening - we're more than well-fed, have disposable income/time etc; in general the wolf is a long way from the door and since we don't have to either run-down antelope on the Veldt over days, nor sneak-up behind mammoths and cut their tendons with knapped flints, we're pretty fat and complacent. And so probably miss all those good internal chemicals mentioned above.
Acceleration is definitely an easy way to get in touch again; IMO 'jerk' (rate of change of acceleration) is even better - hence rollercoasters, or violently powerful cars
- or parachuting / bungy jumping/ diving etc remain *fun*.
- And +1 on always wanting 'faster' ; I have a car that runs mid6s to 60; and also one which gets very close to half that - and yes, now I'm comfortable with its sphincter -tightening capability I still wonder about 'more'...
'We' (posters here) are lucky enough that life is pretty unthreatening - we're more than well-fed, have disposable income/time etc; in general the wolf is a long way from the door and since we don't have to either run-down antelope on the Veldt over days, nor sneak-up behind mammoths and cut their tendons with knapped flints, we're pretty fat and complacent. And so probably miss all those good internal chemicals mentioned above.
Acceleration is definitely an easy way to get in touch again; IMO 'jerk' (rate of change of acceleration) is even better - hence rollercoasters, or violently powerful cars
- or parachuting / bungy jumping/ diving etc remain *fun*.- And +1 on always wanting 'faster' ; I have a car that runs mid6s to 60; and also one which gets very close to half that - and yes, now I'm comfortable with its sphincter -tightening capability I still wonder about 'more'...
Mr Dave said:
N88 said:
*Al* said:
Buy a 1000cc sportsbike, you'll never get bored of acceleration i promise you!
That was my thought really... it has to end somewhere!
Would love one though, Very jealous of my Dad's R1! Nutterish just for the sake of it.Huff said:
OP - interesting thought, definitely overlaps with ones I've had:
'We' (posters here) are lucky enough that life is pretty unthreatening - we're more than well-fed, have disposable income/time etc; in general the wolf is a long way from the door and since we don't have to either run-down antelope on the Veldt over days, nor sneak-up behind mammoths and cut their tendons with knapped flints, we're pretty fat and complacent. And so probably miss all those good internal chemicals mentioned above.
Acceleration is definitely an easy way to get in touch again; IMO 'jerk' (rate of change of acceleration) is even better - hence rollercoasters, or violently powerful cars - or parachuting / bungy jumping/ diving etc remain *fun*.
- And +1 on always wanting 'faster' ; I have a car that runs mid6s to 60; and also one which gets very close to half that - and yes, now I'm comfortable with its sphincter -tightening capability I still wonder about 'more'...
Read something - somewhere, along these lines about the rich and their adoption of dangerous sports, like offshore powerboat racing, which contrasted life on the breadline - stress and fear, against the insulation of money removing threats, hence the need to thrill seek, although that on reflection doesn't explain this.'We' (posters here) are lucky enough that life is pretty unthreatening - we're more than well-fed, have disposable income/time etc; in general the wolf is a long way from the door and since we don't have to either run-down antelope on the Veldt over days, nor sneak-up behind mammoths and cut their tendons with knapped flints, we're pretty fat and complacent. And so probably miss all those good internal chemicals mentioned above.
Acceleration is definitely an easy way to get in touch again; IMO 'jerk' (rate of change of acceleration) is even better - hence rollercoasters, or violently powerful cars
- or parachuting / bungy jumping/ diving etc remain *fun*.- And +1 on always wanting 'faster' ; I have a car that runs mid6s to 60; and also one which gets very close to half that - and yes, now I'm comfortable with its sphincter -tightening capability I still wonder about 'more'...
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