Fire Hot?

[Cole]

let's have a little completely hypothetical sciencey debate/discussion. maybe there's a secret evolutionary biologist that can even answer, but if not, let us discuss.

let's pretend humans never found fire, or at least never harnessed it at all.

what would have happened?

would our distant ancestors have died off due to the cold? or would we have evolved more blubber, or fur/body hair, better immunity to uncooked food?

what would have happened to technology? most of even our most modern technology can be tied back to the industrial revolution, most (all) of which powered by coal, or steam, both things requiring fire or st least intense heat.

would we have found another means of power generstion? could we have harnessed the sun, wind, or water earlier and more effectively? what about combustion engines? those are basically fire.

discuss

 

[Mark]

First of all, fuck you for making me think.

Second of all, I’ll bite.

Thirdly… how stoned ARE you?

I think humans would have still existed, but I don’t think it would be in the realm that we think of humans in… where even the most primitive still have access to fire, and the most “advanced” die in submarines visiting the site of those who died on a luxury cruise ship.

As a species, we’re incredibly rooted in trial and error, a practice most others have replaced with pure instinct… instinct of which that leads to population declines and extinction, like the beached whales we see more and more often. They’re following the same paths generations before them have followed, ingrained in their DNA from generations of repetition. Humans evolve with their environment, we’re like cockroaches… we’ve evolved to the point where we’re our own worst enemy.

There are tribes out there that have not been contacted by civilized society in all of their existence. They will shoot arrows at planes, for fucks sake. They exist, and thrive, on the same planet that we’re killing by our excessive growth and destruction of natural resources elsewhere in the world. That fact alone shows the incredible versatility of our species.

Without fire? We would have evolved to use our other senses more than sight at night. We would have become solely dependent on the day/night cycle, or adapted roles to specifically fit total darkness. Hell, for all we know… the lack of fire could have triggered the discovery of bioluminescence sooner since there would have been less light pollution. That alone could have been utilized for visibility. In regards to the Industrial Revolution… necessity is the mother of all invention, not coal or even fire. Who’s to say that in the absence of fire we as a species didn’t focus more on harnessing the potential of water? There were the aqueducts, there were the old water wheels, all of that stuff became obsolete not because it didn’t work, but because another method was easier. The methods with water-powered machines could have very well evolved with us had they continually been workshopped if using a steam engine or a combustion engine wasn’t an option.

 

[Crystal]

Fire indeed hot. Professy will help!

...I think we probably would have died out long ago if we didn't discover fire, honestly. That or we would have evolved internal space heaters.

 

[Cole]

Thirdly… how stoned ARE you?

I'm stoned enough where I thought of it, and not stoned enough that about halfway through I went "is this really stupid and I'm just high? or is this a fun thought experiment to screw around with"

Fire indeed hot. Professy will help!

...I think we probably would have died out long ago if we didn't discover fire, honestly. That or we would have evolved internal space heaters.

thanks for catching the reference. ily

 

[Crystal]

thanks for catching the reference. ily

 

[Cole]

First of all, fuck you for making me think.

Second of all, I’ll bite.

Thirdly… how stoned ARE you?

I think humans would have still existed, but I don’t think it would be in the realm that we think of humans in… where even the most primitive still have access to fire, and the most “advanced” die in submarines visiting the site of those who died on a luxury cruise ship.

As a species, we’re incredibly rooted in trial and error, a practice most others have replaced with pure instinct… instinct of which that leads to population declines and extinction, like the beached whales we see more and more often. They’re following the same paths generations before them have followed, ingrained in their DNA from generations of repetition. Humans evolve with their environment, we’re like cockroaches… we’ve evolved to the point where we’re our own worst enemy.

There are tribes out there that have not been contacted by civilized society in all of their existence. They will shoot arrows at planes, for fucks sake. They exist, and thrive, on the same planet that we’re killing by our excessive growth and destruction of natural resources elsewhere in the world. That fact alone shows the incredible versatility of our species.

Without fire? We would have evolved to use our other senses more than sight at night. We would have become solely dependent on the day/night cycle, or adapted roles to specifically fit total darkness. Hell, for all we know… the lack of fire could have triggered the discovery of bioluminescence sooner since there would have been less light pollution. That alone could have been utilized for visibility. In regards to the Industrial Revolution… necessity is the mother of all invention, not coal or even fire. Who’s to say that in the absence of fire we as a species didn’t focus more on harnessing the potential of water? There were the aqueducts, there were the old water wheels, all of that stuff became obsolete not because it didn’t work, but because another method was easier. The methods with water-powered machines could have very well evolved with us had they continually been workshopped if using a steam engine or a combustion engine wasn’t an option.

this is mostly my feeling as well. I think we would have survived, but it wouldn't be as we know it today. I imagine we wouldn't have expanded as far away from Africa and the equator, we may not have settled frigid areas for a very long time.

but I do agree I think it's probable we'd have found other means of light, and other (probably better) forms of power.

as you said, leaning more into water power and not abandoning it for something "quicker" might have produced more efficient methods to harness its power. the planet also would likely be in much better condition due to lack of carbon emissions, as well as potential less industrialization and deforestation.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

We don't discover fire and we don't exist.