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78 points

Tbf, our teeth aren’t bad. They just didn’t evolve to consume so much sugar.

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72 points

From an evolutionary standpoint we just have to survive long enough to reproduce, if we can’t eat past age of reproduction there’s no evolutionary pressure to change that.

Thank goodness for modern dentistry.

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54 points
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That’s completely untrue.

Evolution applies to the entire lifespan — if we could “reproduce” but died in childbirth every time, our species would have gone extinct long ago.

Parents and grandparents also contribute greatly to the success of a child long long after they’re born, helping to ensure it also survives to reproductive age.

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-37 points

“grandparents”

Life expectancy in 18th century France was in the 20s, grandparents are optional

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2 points
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18 points
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Generally sure. We’ve certainly evolved to want to be around for a while after reproduction though, for example human infants are completely worthless. That doesn’t mean we need to be top notch, but we do need to exist sufficiently to get children to even the most brutal, basic independence.

Compare that to something that hatches then is already just adulting, like many reptiles.

I think the keyword is precocial vs altricial

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1 point

Especially considering how reliant we humans are on knowledge, without the previous generation teaching us we’re pretty well doomed.

Old people would have been highly valued just because they’re sitting on decades of knowledge and wisdom, in an age without permanent records of information grandma would have been the only source of information about the past, and would presumably spend most of their time just sharing that knowledge with everyone else.

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0 points

Half our expected lifetime was our expected lifetime back when they evolved. Teeth are doing quite well, all things considered.

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3 points

Actually a bigger contributor is underdeveloped jaws due to no longer requiring to chew from.a very young age for nutritional requirements.

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5 points

Why would stronger Jaws prevent teeth decay?

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-7 points

Why would not having developmentally impaired mouth including teeth, muscle, and bone be beneficial for longterm resilience?

Idk dude, figure it out. Some people, I swear.

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23 points

They just didn’t evolve to consume so much sugar.

Bro, eating oranges puts our tooth enamel in a weakened state. If we were designed, it was by an idiot.

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6 points

Oranges do not naturally have that much sugar.

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18 points

It’s not the sugar, but the acid that our teeth can’t handle.

The fact that healthy foods can’t be consumed without a risk of harm is not an intelligent design.

I mean, even apples (i.e. “Garden of Eden”) can promote the growth of plaque!

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1 point
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