The Middle Child Is Going Extinct

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by dabbledash on Sunday July 15, 2018 @06:31PM (#17537462)

I don’t think it’s too hard to figure out. Natural selection disfavors a strategy that requires significant investment in non-reproductive activity (education, career ladder-climbing) during prime reproductive years.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by greglindahl on Sunday July 15, 2018 @07:39PM (#17537740)

Natural selection works on genes, not individuals. How do my career choices affect my brother's and sister's children?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by danieltillett on Sunday July 15, 2018 @10:09PM (#17538283)

The selection part works on individuals, what changes from selection is the frequency of alleles in the population. By not having children the alleles you carry will become rarer in the population of the next generation (all things being equal).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by tcbawo on Sunday July 15, 2018 @11:26PM (#17538536)

Also, having children later in life reduces the role that grandparents play in a childs life, reducing an important safety net.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by danieltillett on Monday July 16, 2018 @12:00AM (#17538672)

Not having children removes the grandparents. Hard to be a grandparent unless you have children.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Middle Child Is Going Extinct by DoreenMichele on Sunday July 15, 2018 @11:28PM (#17538548)

Or removing/reducing neurotic (or even abusive) family nonsense, depending on the family in question.

[ Parent | on HN ]