I remember my high school bio teacher telling us that our body maintains homeostasis through a feedback loop like a house furnace maintains temperature. The furnace kicks on whenever it is needed to heat the house back up to the desired temperature and then shuts off again when that temperature is reached. But wouldn’t it be more efficient to just stay on at a low level always maintaining that temperature? Sort of how a car would maintain its speed. Cruise control works by maintaining the desired speed. Not speeding back up to that speed once it slows to a different speed. Right?
In: Biology
“Cruise control works by maintaining the desired speed”
There are a few assumptions baked into that statement, right? I mean, cruise control feels super-smooth when the road is level, straight, and even the wind and temperature are constant. But try using it in the mountains, and you’ll have a different experience.
There is no set point in thermoregulating organisms which wouldn’t require the same things the cruise control system on your car require: sensors to monitor the current state, a signaling system to communicate its findings, a computer to determine the difference between current and desired, and a means to effect necessary changes.
My point is that to my knowledge there is no better design and our understanding of how it really works is pitifully small.
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