[jbd0]

Shouldn't kids with grandfathers have an evolutionary advantage?

[bmicraft]

They didn't say drops to zero, but the advantage is obviously more limited

[georgeburdell]

If it wasn’t in the past, I imagine it will be in the future with how common two working parents is now. We want more kids but we are getting zero grandparent help

[mensetmanusman]

Two working parents have far below replacement numbers of children, so it would actually cause it to disappear…

[const_cast]

Probably barely, and I think in some instances the opposite. You have to care for the elderly.

[adrianN]

Grandparents used to be 40ish when their grandchildren were born.

[me_again]

The grandmother hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmother_hypothesis is reasonably well-established. The corresponding 'grandfather effect' has not really been demonstrated, as far as I know. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2007...

[natebc]

when humans were still primarily subjected to natural selection the life expectancy likely wouldn't have allowed for many grandfathers.

[Sharlin]

You only have to live to your 40s to become a grandparent in natural conditions, and your chances of living to at least your 50s have always been pretty good conditional on living long enough to reproduce at all.

[readthenotes1]

Iirc, historically, if you made it to 10 years of age, most humans make it to 60

[ASalazarMX]

Probably improved more with lots of siblings from a wide age range. The bigger siblings would do productive work, the younger would take care of the little ones.

[Izikiel43]

The problem there is with your definition of grandfather. Currently, the age for a grandfather in developed countries is 55+. For most of humanity's history, if there were grandfathers, they would barely make it to 55 years of age.

[saagarjha]

No, plenty of people made it to that age in the past. Life expectancy was significantly depressed by infant mortality.