Re: Theorists See Evolutionary Advantages In Menopause

From: Wade Smith (wade_smith@harvard.edu)
Date: Wed Nov 28 2001 - 18:37:57 GMT

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Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 13:37:57 -0500
Subject: Re: Theorists See Evolutionary Advantages In Menopause
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From: Wade Smith <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
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    > http://www.massey.ac.nz/~i75202/lecture5/docs/menop.htm

     From that article (very good, BTW) comes this-

    "But natural selection is a more skilled mathematician because
    it has had millions of years in which to do the calculation. It
    concluded that menopause's benefits outweigh its costs, and that
    women can make more by making less."

    Natural selection also doesn't bother with fixes for things it
    has no way of knowing are broken, and, yes, life span is very
    important. Also bearing on the case is the fact that humans are
    born with their eggs- and things do affect the viability of
    eggs. Perhaps, given enough time, women might be born having
    more eggs. But that would require a large group of selections.
    Things also affect the viability of sperm, as other studies have
    found, and there is some danger to older men having children
    because of birth defects. Men in leadership positions strong
    enough to take trophy wives of unusual separation of years might
    also have had the social trappings in place to cover up any
    problems with the child. High position defects are buried, or
    made holy.

    - Wade

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