5 ms·
Shouldn't kids with grandfathers have an evolutionary advantage?
by jbd0 1y ago
Shouldn't kids with grandfathers have an evolutionary advantage?
- natebc 1y agowhen humans were still primarily subjected to natural selection the life expectancy likely wouldn't have allowed for many grandfathers.
- Sharlin 1y agoYou only have to live to your 40s to become a grandparent in natural conditions, and your chances of living to at least your 50s have always been pretty good conditional on living long enough to reproduce at all.
- nkrisc 1y agoYour 40s? A man could pretty easily be a grandfather at 26-28, possibly less. Perhaps less common but 30s would probably be more likely.
- readthenotes1 1y agoIirc, historically, if you made it to 10 years of age, most humans make it to 60
- inglor_cz 1y agoMedieval burial grounds, when examined by anthropologists, do contain some people over 60, but the majority of adults buried there died earlier, typically in the 45-55 bracket. It wasn't just disease, but also wars and famines. And in women, deaths during childbirth, which cluster in the 20-35 bracket. Cardinals of the Church, who led peaceful lives, didn't give birth and never went hungry, lived into their late 60s and early 70s even during the Middle Ages. But an average peasant wouldn't.
- bmicraft 1y agoThey didn't say drops to zero, but the advantage is obviously more limited
- georgeburdell 1y agoIf it wasn’t in the past, I imagine it will be in the future with how common two working parents is now. We want more kids but we are getting zero grandparent help
- mensetmanusman 1y agoTwo working parents have far below replacement numbers of children, so it would actually cause it to disappear…
- const_cast 1y agoProbably barely, and I think in some instances the opposite. You have to care for the elderly.
- adrianN 1y agoGrandparents used to be 40ish when their grandchildren were born.
- Izikiel43 1y agoThe problem there is with your definition of grandfather. Currently, the age for a grandfather in developed countries is 55+. For most of humanity's history, if there were grandfathers, they would barely make it to 55 years of age.
- me_again 1y agoThe grandmother hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmother_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmother_hypothesis is reasonably well-established. The corresponding 'grandfather effect' has not really been demonstrated, as far as I know. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2007.0688 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2007...
- ASalazarMX 1y agoProbably improved more with lots of siblings from a wide age range. The bigger siblings would do productive work, the younger would take care of the little ones.