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0 pointscoldtea8y ago0 comments

>This strikes me as the type of comment that sounds artificially 'deep' but has no constructive or logical basis

A bizarro thing to say, given that the parent gave several arguments that make sense from an evolutionary/physical viewpoint, like "sleeping requires much less energy" and "the only reason to be awake is to eat and reproduce".

>What does 'default state' even mean in this context?

The state that requires the less energy expenditure? Similar to a rest/equilibrium state in physics?

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smallgovt8y ago

> The state that requires the less energy expenditure? Similar to a rest/equilibrium state in physics?

That's a very reasonable definition. Taking that into account, let's revisit the context of the parent comment: "What if being asleep is the default state for any organism?" What do you mean "what if"? "What if <insert obviously true statement>" is not a constructive or insightful question.

> A bizarro thing to say, given that the parent gave several arguments that make sense from an evolutionary/physical viewpoint, like "sleeping requires much less energy" and "the only reason to be awake is to eat and reproduce".

Repeating myself: If you're suggesting there's no reason for sleep other than conserving energy, that's patently false.

coldteaOP8y ago

>Taking that into account, let's revisit the context of the parent comment: "What if being asleep is the default state for any organism?" What do you mean "what if"? "What if <insert obviously true statement>" is not a constructive or insightful question.

Well, assuming it's true, it's not that "obvious". And even if it is obvious to e.g. a biologist, it's not at all obvious to a layperson.

In fact it's so "not obvious" that you didn't even consider it valid when the parent said it (I merely clarified it further).

>Repeating myself: If you're suggesting there's no reason for sleep other than conserving energy, that's patently false.

Why repeat that though? It's not as is somebody claimed it.

What parent said (and I clarified) was whether sleep is the default state of an animal, and everything else is a deviation from that default to achieve a specific (reproductive etc) purpose.

So not only we did NOT say that "there's no reason for sleep other than conserving energy", but we explicitly said something close to being the opposite: that the only reason to be awake is to "eat and reproduce".

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