I was thinking this through and I have a question. Why do we not start to fall apart when we get to the age where we are likely to have finished with procreation? What's to stop harmful mutations that affect us in later life from building up to the sorts of levels where we are basically crippled?
If beneficial mutations are frequent enough to produce something as astoundingly complex as a human, and harmful mutations are much more likely, then why do people survive so long?
I thought it could be that early hunter gatherers would be more vulnerable with crippled elders and would not survive as groups. But then these groups would possibly be better off with less mouths to feed, and people become old and slow anyway - so what disadvantage would a buildup of traits harmful to people, say, over 30 years old?
Blacknad.
