Marilyn Harris says
"But, as long as the species can survive to an age that it can successfully
reproduce itself is all that evolution is basically interested in, is it
not?"
This is a very short-sighted and a wrong claim for evolution. I think it is
easy to see
that for humans in particular that children require extended care, most
advantageously
from the mother. In fact, it is also probably true that extended families,
or at least
old adults as part of the culture again contribute significant advantages
toward human
'reproductive success". The claims on evolution are often over-simplified
when in
fact its action is extremely suble.
Wade