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If humans needed to hibernate, how would civilisation have developed?

Hillary Shaw
Newport, Shropshire, UK

Cues to hibernate often include colder temperatures, but such biological signals are imprecise, so some individuals would go to sleep and, crucially, awaken before others. Humans are greedy and exploitative. Those in the tropics would probably not need to hibernate, so they and early spring risers in the temperate zones would have a ready source of slave labour: just kidnap and shackle those still asleep.

In keeping with this, civilisation might have developed more slowly in Mediterranean zones…