Shoes, Algernon, Pangea, and Sea Peoples
11 hours ago
- Marathon running speeds are incredibly fast, with world-class runners averaging 13.1 mph over 26.2 miles, partly due to humans' adaptation for running and tenacity.
- New carbon-fiber plate shoes improve running efficiency by storing and returning energy at the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints, reducing oxygen consumption by ~2.7% and marathon times by ~2.18%.
- The Algernon argument suggests simple technologies that dramatically enhance human abilities are unlikely due to evolution, but carbon-fiber shoes provide a modest benefit, indicating a steep slope rather than a hard wall.
- Earth cycles between supercontinents and dispersed continents every 300-500 million years, with Pangea being the most recent supercontinent that broke apart due to heat buildup under landmasses.
- The Sea Peoples, who attacked the Eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BC, are recorded in Egyptian carvings by Pharaoh Ramesses III, describing a decisive battle where they were annihilated.