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Evolution may not select for long life? https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-evolution-not-make-our-life-longer https://biology.stackexch

Evolution may not select for long life? https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-evolution-not-make-our-life-longer https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-e...

rantwasp 6y ago
this is the right answer. once you reach reproduction age and you are able to reproduce, from an evolutionary point of view you're done.
- sterlind 6y ago
  Eh that's too simple in humans. Hanging around longer to tend children and pass on knowledge benefits the survival of your grandchildren, who carry your genes too.
  - rantwasp 6y ago
    yes. you need to reproduce and to ensure your offsprings reach sexual maturity. but humans are in no way special. we believe we have escaped our biology because of the cultural stratum we posses (ie exchanged memes for genes) but we are still basically animals.
    - hammock 6y ago
      Why couldn't it be true that we want to survive to ensure our grand-offspring and great-grandoffspring reach sexual maturity as well? That's a valid strategy (with tradeoffs, as there are with everything)
      - rantwasp 6y ago
        we definitely want to survive, even with 0 offsprings. That was not the point. The point was the natural selection does not optimize for the longest surviving humans.
      - waynecochran 6y ago
        Read the answers in the link I gave -- they give seemingly solid answers (I am no expert).
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    Not necessarily. Hanging around longer could provide more of a resource drain than the relative benefit, humanity aside, and older people can create limits to societal change that could be a governance beyond material aspects too. This will sound callous, but some older people really should be allowed to die. There's definitely points of diminishing returns for all involved; I hope that under certain conditions (eg dementia) I'll be allowed to die when I'm decrepit.
- cortesoft 6y ago
  Not only that, but you are competing for resources with those in reproductive age. There are some advantages to having older members of he species around (at least in social animals), but only to an extent.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  That also means gay people are constantly selected against, yet we have them present for eons.

Evolution may not select for long life? https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-evolution-not-make-our-life-longer https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/17077/why-does-e...

rantwasp 6y ago

this is the right answer. once you reach reproduction age and you are able to reproduce, from an evolutionary point of view you're done.

sterlind 6y ago
Eh that's too simple in humans. Hanging around longer to tend children and pass on knowledge benefits the survival of your grandchildren, who carry your genes too.
- rantwasp 6y ago
  yes. you need to reproduce and to ensure your offsprings reach sexual maturity. but humans are in no way special. we believe we have escaped our biology because of the cultural stratum we posses (ie exchanged memes for genes) but we are still basically animals.
  - hammock 6y ago
    Why couldn't it be true that we want to survive to ensure our grand-offspring and great-grandoffspring reach sexual maturity as well? That's a valid strategy (with tradeoffs, as there are with everything)
    - rantwasp 6y ago
      we definitely want to survive, even with 0 offsprings. That was not the point. The point was the natural selection does not optimize for the longest surviving humans.
    - waynecochran 6y ago
      Read the answers in the link I gave -- they give seemingly solid answers (I am no expert).
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago
  Not necessarily. Hanging around longer could provide more of a resource drain than the relative benefit, humanity aside, and older people can create limits to societal change that could be a governance beyond material aspects too. This will sound callous, but some older people really should be allowed to die. There's definitely points of diminishing returns for all involved; I hope that under certain conditions (eg dementia) I'll be allowed to die when I'm decrepit.
cortesoft 6y ago
Not only that, but you are competing for resources with those in reproductive age. There are some advantages to having older members of he species around (at least in social animals), but only to an extent.
renewiltord 6y ago
That also means gay people are constantly selected against, yet we have them present for eons.