this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
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Actually having elders in human societies is shown to positively correlate with better outcomes for the youth in that society. Grandmothers in particular have a measurable benefit.
https://elifesciences.org/articles/92914
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-93652-4
Yeah. One idea is that, since our offspring take SO long to mature and take so many resources relative to other animals, that it makes more sense at some point for mothers to devote their resources to existing children rather than focus on trying to have more. So it benefits us as a species to have "support" people like grandmas in our society. This is getting into a tangent but there are all sorts of things that kinda "make sense" if you think about life before modern society. Homosexual men would have probably been an evolutionary advantage to a clan of early humans since it would have provided extra strong male bodies without adding to mating pressure. People with a preference for staying up at night and sleeping during the day could have provided more alert guards to watch for predators. Etc etc.
What about ADHD people?
Some of our greatest minds are ADHD, probably bc ADHD brains seem to approach problems in generally more innovative/non-traditional ways than neurotypicals. It can also foster intense motivation in people. Bill Gates, for example, has been open about his struggles with ADHD. Many scholars believe that Albert Einstein struggled with AuDHD (ADHD with autism, which wasn't in the American DSM until fairly recently).
https://www.thebrainworkshop.com/blog/successful-people-with-adhd/
https://www.additudemag.com/slideshows/famous-people-with-adhd/
Ohh, add this recent episode of Radiolab to the list.
https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-menopause-mystery