319. Childfree Neanderthals?
This is a speculation from my personal point of view as a childfree woman. I have not found any information on google, neither in favor nor in contradiction. It seems that texts about evolutions always take for granted, that evolution only enhances the fitness of a species by favoring the urge to procreate in all individuals. The paradoxical conscious choice to refuse procreation is never considered as a factor influencing evolution and natural selection.
One result of evolution is concealed ovulation. In contrast to most animals, human females show no noticeable external indication, when they are ready (or rather at risk) to get pregnant. It is logical, that men's affliction of being driven by their permanent recurrence of the need for sexual homeostasis and of these instincts being automatically triggered by seeing naked female bodies has co-evolved with the concealed ovulation.
Animals are driven to procreate, therefore visible signs of fecundity enhance their procreative behavior. But signs of fecundity would give a choice to intelligent humans, not only to decide to procreate, but also to avoid procreation. I doubt that if having such a choice, humans would bread under all circumstances. I suspect that the concealed ovulation evolved because those, who did get pregnant accidentally by ignorance had more offspring than those, whose intelligence allowed them the choice to allow or to refuse procreation.
Nobody knows, why the Neanderthals got extinct. There are many speculations, so here I add my personal one:
Maybe in the Neanderthals females, ovulation was no completely concealed, they did show some signs of fecundity, and they therefore had the chance and choice to avoid breading. Modern humans' ovulation is entirely concealed and they invaded the territory of the Neanderthals breeding like rabbits. In my understanding, when rationality, intelligence and cognition evolve beyond a threshold, the individual becomes able to doubt, that procreation is a good choice. So the Neanderthals got extinct, when their cognition evolved beyond that threshold, while they were able to avoid breeding.
This is a speculation from my personal point of view as a childfree woman. I have not found any information on google, neither in favor nor in contradiction. It seems that texts about evolutions always take for granted, that evolution only enhances the fitness of a species by favoring the urge to procreate in all individuals. The paradoxical conscious choice to refuse procreation is never considered as a factor influencing evolution and natural selection.
One result of evolution is concealed ovulation. In contrast to most animals, human females show no noticeable external indication, when they are ready (or rather at risk) to get pregnant. It is logical, that men's affliction of being driven by their permanent recurrence of the need for sexual homeostasis and of these instincts being automatically triggered by seeing naked female bodies has co-evolved with the concealed ovulation.
Animals are driven to procreate, therefore visible signs of fecundity enhance their procreative behavior. But signs of fecundity would give a choice to intelligent humans, not only to decide to procreate, but also to avoid procreation. I doubt that if having such a choice, humans would bread under all circumstances. I suspect that the concealed ovulation evolved because those, who did get pregnant accidentally by ignorance had more offspring than those, whose intelligence allowed them the choice to allow or to refuse procreation.
Nobody knows, why the Neanderthals got extinct. There are many speculations, so here I add my personal one:
Maybe in the Neanderthals females, ovulation was no completely concealed, they did show some signs of fecundity, and they therefore had the chance and choice to avoid breading. Modern humans' ovulation is entirely concealed and they invaded the territory of the Neanderthals breeding like rabbits. In my understanding, when rationality, intelligence and cognition evolve beyond a threshold, the individual becomes able to doubt, that procreation is a good choice. So the Neanderthals got extinct, when their cognition evolved beyond that threshold, while they were able to avoid breeding.
We are many childfree people today, there is no reason to consider it impossible, that the childfree brain could already have had evolved in the Neanderthals. It is probable, that any species gets extinct, as soon as there are enough members, whose brain has evolved beyond the threshold of understanding the detrimental consequences of breeding on the individual wellbeing.
