[ExI] [GRG] NewAbs: The Phenotype of IQ is Polygenic x 1, 000 Genes

[BillK]

On Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Damien Broderick  wrote:
> But did "most people die" by their 30s? It's not even clear to me that most
> babies died in infancy in our small group roaming-band EEA--without
> hospitals, much less puerperal fever? less contagion?--and if some
> proportion will live into their 50s, 60s, 70s, even older, and serve a
> useful function conducing to the well-being of their kin, that's all you
> need. Dead children, in any case, don't contribute to the gene pool (except
> perhaps by removing bearers of deleterious genes, and taking some pressure
> off better-equipped siblings). Anyway, we are a K- not r-selected species,
> exactly NOT "live fast, die young".
>
>

Hey, I was there! I remember it well.

Well, it was pre-historical times, so science is guessing, based on
best evidence. All the bones found seem to be from around 30-40 years
old or younger. But there may be other reasons for no old bones being
found.

The r/K selection theory has fallen by the wayside these days.
See:
<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/R/K_selection_theory>
Quote:
In the 1970s and 1980s, several studies failed to produce experimental
corroboration of the r/K theory, and, as a result, r/K selection
theory was discarded by biologists studying life-history evolution by
the early nineties.[12] Even though hundreds of papers used r/K
selection theory to analyze life history data, and attempted to fit
them into the r/K selection model, not a single study was able to
demonstrate a correlation between fluctuation and adaptation or to
show a tradeoff between r- and K-selected traits.
-----------------

If you think back to Victorian times, the poor had short lifespans and
many children, most of whom died young. Who can forget 'Every sperm is
Sacred?'


BillK