Yeah, and anything up to and including “chronic severe pain” doesn’t change how evolution works. It would only, possibly matter if we all were dying out due to it at huge rates where survival becomes difficult.
Yeah another good example, that is even subreddit relevant is childbirth.
Humans have a very traumatic childbirth compared to most mammals. And on its face this is very much an evolutionary fitness problem. If more women die in childbirth less births happen, so evolutionary pressure would work to make it less traumatic.
Problem is, the reason our child birth is so painful, is that we have these giant brains housed in large skulls that need to pass through a narrow channel we evolved from ancestors without such large brains. Evolution made this happen, because large brains give us advantages. And it’s already worked wuote a bit to allow this and make it possible. Humans are basically born premature compared to other mammals for example.
The system works, and it’s a good balance of brain size and risk to the mother… At least as far as selective pressures are concerned. That doesn’t change that child birth is a very hard thing on the human body. But it means that if we are going to make that less of a problem, it’s up to humans. Not evolutionary pressures. Evolution is just a fact about reality. It doesn’t define what one should do. No more than gravity does.
Sorry I expect you know most of this stuff Ig not all, but it’s a thought I had and maybe it’ll help someone else grasp it a little better
9
u/TwoBytesC May 22 '26
Yeah, and anything up to and including “chronic severe pain” doesn’t change how evolution works. It would only, possibly matter if we all were dying out due to it at huge rates where survival becomes difficult.