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Perhaps I should have said, "A better evolutionary explanation for helpless babies is..." Babies began being born prematurely after humans started walking upri
by pj 17y ago
Perhaps I should have said, "A better evolutionary explanation for helpless babies is..."
Babies began being born prematurely after humans started walking upright. It was after these helpless babies were born that we evolved the ability to care for them. This may have compounded the issue, because perhaps intelligence was required to care for them. Thus the babies were born with even larger heads and on and on.
Babies can't reproduce, but if the organism does not live long enough to reproduce, the babies aren't born at all, so walking upright is more important than being born able to walk and care for themselves. Some hypotheses suggest that walking upright allowed us to cool our heads and resist heat stroke when trees disappeared in Africa. Large brains were actually radiators disipating heat, and containers for backup neurons when some failed due to running down prey and the extreme heat of desert climates. Thus, babies born with larger brains had more heat resistance and backup neurons, thus more likely to reach fertility.
It is my prediction, that in the future, all babies will be born by c-section.