Last Cadell
Global Brain Institute (GBI), Brussels, Belgium.
Curr Aging Sci. 2014;7(1):17-24. doi: 10.2174/1874609807666140521101610.
Throughout primate history there have been three major life history transitions towards increasingly delayed sexual maturation and biological reproduction, as well as towards extended life expectancy. Monkeys reproduce later and live longer than do prosimians, apes reproduce later and live longer than do monkeys, and humans reproduce later and live longer than do apes. These life history transitions are connected to increased encephalization. During the last life history transition from apes to humans, increased encephalization co-evolved with increased dependence on cultural knowledge for energy acquisition. This led to a dramatic pressure for more energy investment in growth over current biological reproduction. Since the industrial revolution socioeconomic development has led to even more energy being devoted to growth over current biological reproduction. I propose that this is the beginning of an ongoing fourth major primate life history transition towards completely delayed biological reproduction and an extension of the evolved human life expectancy. I argue that the only fundamental difference between this primate life history transition and previous life history transitions is that this transition is being driven solely by cultural evolution, which may suggest some deeper evolutionary transition away from biological evolution is already in the process of occurring.
在整个灵长类动物的历史中，出现过三次重大的生命史转变，这些转变使得性成熟和生物繁殖日益延迟，同时预期寿命也得以延长。猴子比原猴亚目动物繁殖得更晚且寿命更长，猿类比猴子繁殖得更晚且寿命更长，而人类比猿类繁殖得更晚且寿命更长。这些生命史转变与脑化程度的提高有关。在从猿到人的最后一次生命史转变过程中，脑化程度的提高与在获取能量方面对文化知识的依赖性增加共同进化。这导致了一种巨大的压力，即相比于当前的生物繁殖，需要在生长过程中投入更多能量。自工业革命以来，社会经济发展使得相比于当前的生物繁殖，更多的能量被用于生长。我认为，这是正在进行的第四次重大灵长类动物生命史转变的开端，此次转变将导致生物繁殖完全延迟，并延长人类已进化的预期寿命。我认为，这次灵长类动物生命史转变与之前的生命史转变之间唯一的根本区别在于，这次转变完全由文化进化驱动，这可能意味着某种从生物进化的更深层次的进化转变已经在发生过程中。
