I mean i just want to note for a second that the aging retardant properties of humanity are one of the great miracles that puts us above other species.
Most other mammal species, including dogs, cats, camels, zebras, horses, cattle, sheep, whatever farm animal/pet you can think of typically lives no longer than 20 years, while for humans it’s routinely 80 years, about 4x as long.
That, it turns out, is one of humanity’s great strengths. We age significantly slower, and that includes a significantly longer childhood. Most feral animals grow up and reach puberty within 1-3 years, while for humans it takes at least 12 years (even longer if you wait to be socially accepted as an “adult”). This gives us more time to play, figure things out, learn, and develop. It is for this reason that we’re able to pull off more amazing things than other species, because our long lifes warrant that getting a long, proper education is worth it. Because if we only lived for 20 years, it would hardly be worth it to study till you’re 25 years old.
So, aging slower, and staying childish for longer, is actually one of humanity’s great strengths. It is unfortunate, i believe, that we’re trying to remove that human specialty in these days and trying to make people grow up faster.
What, why? Axolotls can regrow limbs and a jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) is biologically immortal. Try that as a mere human.
And btw, please stop with that “we are above animals” thinking. That’s what makes us think the world is ours alone and leads to destruction and shrinking bio diversity. And we are animals too anyway.
Look, that all sounds very nice for civilized people. But childhood itself is a creation of civilization. Childhood didn’t exist until we had the leisure to allow it. And now civilization has progressed to the point where children don’t really ever have to grow up or assume care of themselves and others. Ya see em sleeping in tents on the corner. Still 12. No bills, no cares. Can you spare a dollar?
As far as I can recall, I was never a ‘child’. I was a smaller person with my own motivations and drives. Childhood, as we regard it, with its mystical properties is a myth.
I mean i just want to note for a second that the aging retardant properties of humanity are one of the great miracles that puts us above other species.
Most other mammal species, including dogs, cats, camels, zebras, horses, cattle, sheep, whatever farm animal/pet you can think of typically lives no longer than 20 years, while for humans it’s routinely 80 years, about 4x as long.
That, it turns out, is one of humanity’s great strengths. We age significantly slower, and that includes a significantly longer childhood. Most feral animals grow up and reach puberty within 1-3 years, while for humans it takes at least 12 years (even longer if you wait to be socially accepted as an “adult”). This gives us more time to play, figure things out, learn, and develop. It is for this reason that we’re able to pull off more amazing things than other species, because our long lifes warrant that getting a long, proper education is worth it. Because if we only lived for 20 years, it would hardly be worth it to study till you’re 25 years old.
So, aging slower, and staying childish for longer, is actually one of humanity’s great strengths. It is unfortunate, i believe, that we’re trying to remove that human specialty in these days and trying to make people grow up faster.
What, why? Axolotls can regrow limbs and a jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) is biologically immortal. Try that as a mere human.
And btw, please stop with that “we are above animals” thinking. That’s what makes us think the world is ours alone and leads to destruction and shrinking bio diversity. And we are animals too anyway.
I like your perspective.
Thanks.
With that reasoning, turtles, parrots, should be put above humans?
Look, that all sounds very nice for civilized people. But childhood itself is a creation of civilization. Childhood didn’t exist until we had the leisure to allow it. And now civilization has progressed to the point where children don’t really ever have to grow up or assume care of themselves and others. Ya see em sleeping in tents on the corner. Still 12. No bills, no cares. Can you spare a dollar?
Sociologists love making that claim, but it’s not true.
A long childhood followed by extremely experimental puberty is indeed a biological feature of our species.
There have been societies that suppressed childhood due to labor needs, but that came after many more had thrived respecting it.
Modern childhood is indeed new… Compared to western European tradition, not to our species as a whole.
Well thanks, but I didn’t finish my doctorate. I’m not really a sociologist. It’s just a hobby.
childhood is something all complex animals have, playing is how we learn to do things needed to survive.
As far as I can recall, I was never a ‘child’. I was a smaller person with my own motivations and drives. Childhood, as we regard it, with its mystical properties is a myth.