From: rokimoto557@gmail.com   
      
   On 12/13/2025 12:25 AM, Pro Plyd wrote:   
   > RonO wrote:   
   >> https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/dick-van-dyke-prepares-turn-100-im-   
   >> lucky/story?id=128322788   
   >> He claims to go to the gym 3 times a week, and hasn't seemed to have   
   >> slowed down mentally.  This is not normal.   
   >>   
   >> For some reason humans have evolved to get old and degenerate.  Some   
   >> birds reproduce out to a century of age.  There was a recent article   
   >> about a century old tortoise reproducing.  They believe that women go   
   >> through menopause in order to survive longer.  We depend on our   
   >> culture, and humans are able to learn cultural necessities in greater   
   >> numbers and faster than our ape contemporaries.  There has been   
   >> selection for aiding cultural integrity by extending the lives of some   
   >> members of the clan, but your ancestors are direct competitors, and it   
   >> looks like humans were never selected for lengthy survival after their   
   >> reproductive years.   
   >   
   > Someone tell David Dalton we found one of his aliens...   
   >   
   > PS - what about the notion that older humans help with   
   > raising young etc?   
   >   
      
   The hunter gatherers that survived into the modern era usually only   
   tolerate the older family members for as long as they can be useful in   
   gathering food or doing things like chewing hide for making clothing.   
   If times got tough granny was the first to go.  Some cultures developed   
   rituals for euthanizing the elderly.  If you occupy the same territory   
   as your parents they are among your most pressing competition for resources.   
      
   Ron Okimoto   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)