ABSTRACT
We share with other mammals the mechanisms of temperature regulation – shivering, sweating and changing the distribution of blood between the body’s peripheral circulation and the deeper organs. But we also use clothing and shelter and burn fuel to warm and cool us. The use of these cultural mechanisms to control our temperature has made it possible for our species to survive in almost all climates, but it has also created new kinds of vulnerability. Our body temperature now depends on the price of clothing or fuel, whether we control our own furnaces or have them set by landlords, whether we work indoors or outdoors, our freedom to avoid or leave places with stressful temperature regimes … Thus our temperature regime is not a simple consequence of thermal needs but rather a product of social and economic conditions. (R. Levins and R. Lewontin, The Dialectical Biologist 1 )
