[extropy-chat] Re: Elderly crucial to evolutionary success of humans

[Chris Phoenix]

BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> <http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996113>
> 
> Senior citizens played an important role in the dramatic spread of human 
> civilization some 30,000 years ago, a study of the human fossil record 
> has shown.

Go to the blackboard and write 500 times:  Correlation does not imply 
causation.

It seems quite plausible that something else caused the increase in 
population--perhaps the higher-tech lifestyle implied by the increase in 
artifacts--and that the generally better living conditions allowed old 
people to live longer.

Chris

-- 
Chris Phoenix                                  cphoenix at CRNano.org
Director of Research
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology          http://CRNano.org