mundane things our bodies didn't evolve for:
flicking on a light in the middle of the night to go to the toilet might seem trivial to us, but for an early homo sapien, it would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. the discomfort our eyes feel during that abrupt transition is a subtle reminder of just how unnatural it really is.
in early human history, moving from darkness to light was always a gradual process. whether it was lighting a torch, starting a bonfire, or watching the sun rise, reaching full brightness took time. and except for the sun, "full brightness" wasn’t all that bright to begin with.
for almost all of human existence, and still in some parts of the world, when summer hit, you were doomed to be a sweaty, overheated mess, no matter your social standing.
if you were a king, you might avoid the blazing sun and have servants fanning you to keep cool. maybe you’d even have a tub of water or a reserved spot in a river to cool off for a few minutes. but that was the extent of your luxury. your drinks would be as warm as anyone else’s, and the air around you just as hot and humid.
for millennia, complaining about freezing in the middle of summer was nothing more than a far-fetched joke to cope with the heat.
for over 100,000 years, the fastest a human could go was about 30 kph. and for the next 6,000 years, horseback riders could hit a dizzying 60 kph. in both cases, these top speeds could only be sustained for a few minutes at best.
today, we routinely travel at over 100 kph for hours on end, or even 800 kph if we’re flying. before cars and planes, our bodies never experienced these kinds of speeds—yet somehow, we’ve adapted like it’s no big deal!
nowadays, we don’t pay much attention to what season a food grows in or where its ideal crop region is. the folks behind the scenes might still care, but for the rest of us, that’s just tmi.
i’m not going to list all the delicious combinations that are only possible today thanks to modern refrigeration, but you can bet the list is long.
so, if you ever invite a medieval peasant to your after-party, be careful what you serve—they might just accuse you of witchcraft.
see you tomorrow.