Comment on What possible evolutionary advantage is offered by my ears suddenly sprouting tons of hair?

AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• apopcorn@piefed.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  But surely you can still get a genetic advantage by helping out your kids.

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  • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’m not a geneticist or anthropologist, but apparently that’s a debated, not proven mechanism. The theory being that natural selection works not just on individuals, but on societies. So if older members of a society are more inclined to help take care of the young, that society is more likely to survive, so that trait is more likely to get passed along and become more common in the population. That mechanism would only apply to social/pack animals (like humans), so wouldn’t apply to, say, turtles.

    But it’s hard to argue that ear hair in old men helps their society thrive. More likely, it’s just one more trait that is a result of aging and not selected for, like grey hair or wrinkles.

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    • calcopiritus@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I don’t think anyone denies that whatever happens after you no longer pass your genes around has no evolutionary effect.

      Whether helping your offspring is evolutionarily helpful or not might be debatable (I don’t see how it would not be helpful though)

      Even in beings that not form societies it has an impact. Example:

      You reproduce, then instantly die. Now your offspring have more available resources around them, since you no longer consume them

      Or, your reproduce and you become much stronger, but not aggressive towards non-predators. Now predators are less likely to be near you, and your offspring are probably near you. Therefore, they probably benefit from having less predators around.

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      • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I should have included those things an individual does to help their direct offspring - those also help you pass along your genes. Whether it’s nurturing your young, or dying and letting them feed off your corpse, anything you do to help them survive can be part of natural selection too. Don’t those things increases the likelihood of that trait being found in the population. Ear hair isn’t one of those things.

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• moseschrute@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  You don’t think watching people age has any effect on young people’s desire to reproduce?

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  • BurgerBaron@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Nope. I think “we’re” evolved to bury our heads in the sand regarding death and the true nature of reality.

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  • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I remember in college, there was a human sexuality class that used what was essentially porn, but with really old people, to reduce the number of people who took the class to watch porn.

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    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      And there were still plenty of people who took the class to watch porn, I imagine.

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      • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I’d bet you’re right.

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• Substance_P@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  What now? This didn’t make zero sense.

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  • AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Natural selection works when you have a trait that makes you more successful at living long enough to pass along your genes or at attracting a mate to pass them along with. Your offspring are more likely to inherit that trait and so they’re more likely to pass along their genes as well, so the trait is more prevalent in the population. Conversely, if you have a trait that makes it harder for you to live, you’re less likely to pass along your genes, and so that trait is more likely to be less present in the population. If you have a trait that doesn’t impact your ability to live long enough to pass along your genes or attract a mate, it has no impact on natural selection.

    So if you have a trait that only appears after you’re past the baby making stage, it’s not playing into natural selection. By definition, that trait didn’t help you survive or attract a mate or whatever before having kids and passing it along. It just happens, like lots of other traits.

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