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diegocaleiro comments on Is The Blood Thicker Near The Tropics? Trade-Offs Of Living In The Cold - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: diegocaleiro 28 March 2013 05:14PM

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Comment author: diegocaleiro 30 March 2013 01:12:41AM 0 points [-]

Yeah, I think anyone who's been to Rio, or Jeddah, on a sunny summer day knows that the heat impairs a lot as well.

How long do people in the cold spend shoving snow, drinking hot tea and changing clothes is also a factor.

It is impossible to work at freezing, and impossible to work at 45 celsius.

Comment author: knb 30 March 2013 11:38:14AM 0 points [-]

Yeah, I think anyone who's been to Rio, or Jeddah, on a sunny summer day knows that the heat impairs a lot as well.

The average high of the hottest month in Rio is only slightly warmer than the average high of the hottest month in Boston. So it seems that summer heat should not be much more of a problem in typical tropical climates than in temperate high-latitude cities like Boston.

Overall the net effect of high-latitude environment (minus tropical disease protection) is probably very negative, with substantial efficiency losses relative to tropical type climates. The benefits of avoiding tropical disease would more than compensate, however.