Africans in North America
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 5:34 pm
Is there a potential - and so far under-acknowledged - problem with African players playing in North America?
It's a well known scientific fact that the human body is interpenetrated by the bacteria and viruses that make up the material environment around it. Every continent on this planet has its own particular ecology of flora (plants), fauna (animals), fungi, bacteria and viruses. Every organism is basically a system of complex biophysical feedback loops which have learned to maximize and optimize the amount of usable energy it can extract from these relationships; some bacteria are positive, others negative; some viruses contribute DNA sequences to help repair the cells of plants, animals and bacteria, while others systematically exploit the cell to create more copies of itself.
For hundreds of years, interactions between Europe and North America - both in the North Hemisphere - has created a sort of 'levelling out' of differences between the biomes of the two continents. Similarly, but on a lesser scale, there have been regular interactions between humans in South America and Europe, Australia, Europe and North America, and Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. The outlier both in terms of ecology and even more so in human interactions is the African continent.
Both Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam have personally complained about their energy levels, and this is also apparent to anyone paying attention to their game. Is it possible, perhaps, that the bodies of Embiid and Siakam, adapted to the biomes - viruses in particular - of Africa, have immune systems that work "harder" to deal with the microbiotic ecologies of North America, such that they have a harder time producing an equivalent energy for muscular/neurological activity relative to players born and raised in North America and Europe?
This issue has gone completely under the radar - I have never heard the issue brought up once - yet it is an entirely legitimate issue to acknowledge that is fully supported by the results of biological and ecological sciences. Physical systems have to adapt to new climates. The body of Pascal and Joel grew up and became 'attuned' to decode the particular physicochemical structures of the environments they evolved within. When they were plucked out of Western Africa and brought to the United States, their bodies had to learn a whole new language - a new "biosemiotics". It's hardly surprising then that when push comes to shove, both Pascal and Joel demonstrate issues with maintaining focus i.e. seem to be more constrained, which, from a homeostatic perspective, can be made more intelligible when we recognize that their bodies are performing 'work' (i.e. are thermodynamically 'dissipating energy') by events that North American and European bodies are
If this thesis is correct, what does this mean for the Toronto Raptors and their expectation that Masai Ujiri will provide us a steady stream of "giants" from Africa? Is it perhaps only to be expected that, relative to North America/European players putting in an equivalent amount of work, that African players will necessarily fare more poorly? That focus - mental fatigue - will be a perennial issue for them? I know people will - and should - cite Hakeem Olujuwan as an exception; and indeed, what I am suggesting should not be taken as an ironclad law that precludes success. But it should, I think, provide food for thought, at least in acknowledging that African players seem to be hamstrung by difficulties that North American and European players have to a lesser extent - namely, bodies that are 'fitted' to different microbiomes. The net effect is that it impacts their day to day energy levels i.e. makes them more prone to mental fatigue and loss of focus.
I do not know how this thesis would fare in the other sport that Africans do well in: European football. Are there also energy/fatigue problems here as well? I don't follow this sport enough to know, but it wouldn't surprise me if problems can be found here as well.
There's also the additional issue of "which part of Africa"? Africa's a massive continent, making the North very different from the south, and the west very different from the East. Because of the transactions between North America and Europe, there is naturally more parity in the microbiota we carry over with us than would exist between western Africa and North America.
In any case, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers with this thread, but only trying to spread awareness of a subject matter that could prove relevant as more and more Africans make their way to the NBA in the coming decades.
It's a well known scientific fact that the human body is interpenetrated by the bacteria and viruses that make up the material environment around it. Every continent on this planet has its own particular ecology of flora (plants), fauna (animals), fungi, bacteria and viruses. Every organism is basically a system of complex biophysical feedback loops which have learned to maximize and optimize the amount of usable energy it can extract from these relationships; some bacteria are positive, others negative; some viruses contribute DNA sequences to help repair the cells of plants, animals and bacteria, while others systematically exploit the cell to create more copies of itself.
For hundreds of years, interactions between Europe and North America - both in the North Hemisphere - has created a sort of 'levelling out' of differences between the biomes of the two continents. Similarly, but on a lesser scale, there have been regular interactions between humans in South America and Europe, Australia, Europe and North America, and Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. The outlier both in terms of ecology and even more so in human interactions is the African continent.
Both Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam have personally complained about their energy levels, and this is also apparent to anyone paying attention to their game. Is it possible, perhaps, that the bodies of Embiid and Siakam, adapted to the biomes - viruses in particular - of Africa, have immune systems that work "harder" to deal with the microbiotic ecologies of North America, such that they have a harder time producing an equivalent energy for muscular/neurological activity relative to players born and raised in North America and Europe?
This issue has gone completely under the radar - I have never heard the issue brought up once - yet it is an entirely legitimate issue to acknowledge that is fully supported by the results of biological and ecological sciences. Physical systems have to adapt to new climates. The body of Pascal and Joel grew up and became 'attuned' to decode the particular physicochemical structures of the environments they evolved within. When they were plucked out of Western Africa and brought to the United States, their bodies had to learn a whole new language - a new "biosemiotics". It's hardly surprising then that when push comes to shove, both Pascal and Joel demonstrate issues with maintaining focus i.e. seem to be more constrained, which, from a homeostatic perspective, can be made more intelligible when we recognize that their bodies are performing 'work' (i.e. are thermodynamically 'dissipating energy') by events that North American and European bodies are
If this thesis is correct, what does this mean for the Toronto Raptors and their expectation that Masai Ujiri will provide us a steady stream of "giants" from Africa? Is it perhaps only to be expected that, relative to North America/European players putting in an equivalent amount of work, that African players will necessarily fare more poorly? That focus - mental fatigue - will be a perennial issue for them? I know people will - and should - cite Hakeem Olujuwan as an exception; and indeed, what I am suggesting should not be taken as an ironclad law that precludes success. But it should, I think, provide food for thought, at least in acknowledging that African players seem to be hamstrung by difficulties that North American and European players have to a lesser extent - namely, bodies that are 'fitted' to different microbiomes. The net effect is that it impacts their day to day energy levels i.e. makes them more prone to mental fatigue and loss of focus.
I do not know how this thesis would fare in the other sport that Africans do well in: European football. Are there also energy/fatigue problems here as well? I don't follow this sport enough to know, but it wouldn't surprise me if problems can be found here as well.
There's also the additional issue of "which part of Africa"? Africa's a massive continent, making the North very different from the south, and the west very different from the East. Because of the transactions between North America and Europe, there is naturally more parity in the microbiota we carry over with us than would exist between western Africa and North America.
In any case, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers with this thread, but only trying to spread awareness of a subject matter that could prove relevant as more and more Africans make their way to the NBA in the coming decades.