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Comment by tayo42

2 years ago

After having a kid Ive wondered how all these sleep disruption means you'll die studies could actually be true. You'd think evolution would have taken care of it at some point

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tayo42

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devmor  2 years ago

As far as evolution is concerned, you've already had the kid - you passed on your genes. If you survive long enough to make sure your kid reaches maturity, that's all that matters there.

Evolution can't select for anything that happens significantly past the birth of your progeny.

  • tayo42  2 years ago

    Maybe, but do other mammals suffer from this? Maybe it woukd have been taken care of with some early human-ish species with shorter life spans or something.

  • lostlogin  2 years ago

    > As far as evolution is concerned, you've already had the kid - you passed on your genes

    A second child would help with that too.

    • xeromal  2 years ago

      Sure but I doubt lack of sleep effects mortality greatly in childbearing years. Assuming you make it to 40-50, that's it. Now you can die whenever and have succeeded

  • rgrieselhuber  2 years ago

    Sure it can. Knowledge, skills, and wisdom passed on to children and grandchildren well into adulthood significantly increases their chances of successfully passing on their genes to future generations, attract quality mates, and reduce stressors that can be passed down through subsequent generations.

    • devmor  2 years ago

      You are thinking in far more modern terms than anything evolutionarily distant enough to affect this issue in a large portion of the population.

      Additionally, even if you were looking to predict selection many generations in the future; modern reproduction happens at higher rates the lower in economic disparity you go, so clearly that isn’t the case.

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