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  1. SAPIENSKaren L. Kramer6/9/209 min
    20 reads8 comments
    9.3
    SAPIENS
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    • sjwoo3 years ago

      Really interesting -- I love the caloric breakdown that leads to these conclusions. No doubt we rule the planet. When the new Tappan Zee Bridge was being built, I remember driving through and seeing these massive structures and thinking, "Humans are making this." We're amazing. Amazingly clever. Let's just hope our collective cleverness keeps it all going for a good while longer.

    • BillEnkey3 years ago

      I don't think this is new; farmers in the 19th century seemed to understand this at least, anyway. It is interesting to see it explained from a scientific perspective. I wonder if articles like this will help strengthen modern families, or weaken them? From what I've noticed, when we don't have the biological family to assist in child rearing we turn to the adopted family (neighbors, teachers, et cetera).

    • Raven3 years ago

      Support is needed for today’s families. Thanks mama’s for all your endless work.

      • Karenz
        Scribe
        3 years ago

        I love Readup for providing articles like this of such interest that I wouldn’t seek out on my own. I was fascinated by comparison of other great ape family behaviors with humans.

    • Kiki3 years ago

      This article shows the strength, versatility and necessity of women all over the world. It’s time to treat us with the respect we deserve.

    • Florian3 years ago

      Hunter-gatherers developed a distinct feature called intergenerational cooperation: Parents help kids, and children help parents.

      That’s super interesting

    • thorgalle
      Top reader this weekReading streakScoutScribe
      3 years ago

      Interesting! I love the scientific approach of counting hours-on-task and livelihood contributions by the children. But I'm not sure if the article content fully answers the question asked by the title, or at least, it narrows it down a little to "What made humans able to reproduce in higher quantities than other great apes?"

      Observations in the article from some hundreds of people in modern hunter-gatherer societies can maybe explain the dynamics of population growth in similar societies in the past. It might even explain population growth in large developing (agricultural?) societies today.

      However, in modern western(ized) societies, depending on help from children for nursing, food procurement is more likely to be seen as child labour, bad parenting and a system failure.

      A little bit of Wikipedia shows that the increase in population in western(ized) countries since the 19th century is mostly caused by a decrease in mortality; not by an increase in fertility. This article doesn't talk about that at all.

      Fathers and grandparents certainly play important roles in supporting their families.

      Ahah! This other AOTD zoomed in on the father aspect: The marvel of the human dad, it made the exact same point about weaning differences in humans vs non-human great apes, and some others. Love how Readup brings it all together!

    • TripleG
      Top reader this weekTop reader of all timeReading streakScoutScribe
      3 years ago

      Great , interesting article about cooperation.