Why do we care for elders? It serves no evolutionary purpose

I'm not sure we live in the same society. Cause there ain't a whole lot of respect for elders in mine.

>respect for elders
>dump em in a home and let them rot for 10 years
Because it's unethical to put old people down for obvious reasons. So rather than you know, take care of them, people put them in assisted living care where they slowly lose their mind and are sometimes abused.

>>7951019
my father was a drunk who beat me. I think life has its funny ways of seeing a miserable end to a pathetic life

>>7951031
I don't think there's a fate worse than being put in an old folks home, it's soul crushing and my poor grandfather's in one right now.

>>7951008
Experience that younger people may lack is useful to society, especially before writing was invented.

Also, everyone is interested in being taken care of when they are old, so they are okay with such policies.

>>7951033
the thing is that he is not aware that you abandoned him

>>7951092
He has dementia and Alzheimer's, his mind was going for years beforehand, when he fell and broke his hip was the breaking point. He still kinda knows who we are, but not our relation to him.

File: 10000770_10000199_10000001.jpg (64KB, 685x514px) Image search: [Google]

64KB, 685x514px

here it is, this is it. Where 95% of us will end up. A cramped lounge, 10-14 hours a day in there with whining, sniffing, smelling of poo bigots that you never met before and wouldnt be seen dead with when young. The competition is for who gets the best seats to actually watch the television (hence they poo themselves not to lose their seat).

This WILL be your life for 10-20 years.

>>7951033
What, he doesn't own his own house? How the fuck do so many people end up in care homes.

If you're at the point you own your own house but can't look after yourself then there IS no point in living.

>>7951128
He had a house, we sold it to pay for his living(he lived alone). He was at the point in his dementia where it was very apparent he was starting to lose it.

>>7951130
D:

Yeah I'd have an hero'd by then.

I'd never let myself become a burden to the younger generation if there was no chance of me stabilizing and/or recovering. That's just selfish really. He should have passed the house on to your parents.

>>7951133
Uh, I mean, he did basically. My grandmother sold the house for him. He was well beyond the point of making decisions for himself at that point

>>7951008
>sample mean
>not 1/(n-1)
dropped

>>7951008
>It serves no evolutionary purpose for a society right?
Wrong.
Lrn2tribal-knowledge fgt pls

>>7951008
You do understand life expectancy has shifted radically in the past 100 years alone, right?
In the 1900s, you rarely lived past 50.
At 1 AD, common humans rarely lived passed 30.
Fossil records show that pre-historic humans rarely made it past 25.

And these humans didn't magically age faster. A 25-year-old "caveman" wasn't the equivalent of an 80-year-old modern man. He could fight, hunt, defend his tribe, and had the knowledge and experience to lead a village and pass on technology to the next generation.

The concept of respecting your elders isn't some 1980's slogan from a movie. It transcends time.

>>7951008

Because they know their shit. Now fuck off

>>7951197
but that's not an unbiased estimation of the mean

you only use bessel's correction when you want an unbiased estimate of the variance

>>7951291
Why all the hate?

OP here if anyone is taking this personally know that I volunteer at a home and am brought up in a tradition (and with kind enough granpappies) to have a lot of respect for my elders.

I am just curious though.

>>7951289
Wow how could I miss something so obvious, your point seems very convincing!

>>7951048
I suppose that is true I mean you would be less likely to fare well in wars if you stopped caring for middle aged veterans but really Im talking about very old folk, like the kind that can barely take part in battles anymore.

I mean some bright minds can keep at providing knowledge but that is usually a minority right, most old folk would not be able to teach the tribe due to not having much to say and would be too physically unfit to take part in actual beneficial undertakings, be it farming or combat.

So why did mkst cultures in the world still carry out this tradition of caring for them?

Other posters answer seems ok.

>>7951322
>Wow how could I miss something so obvious, your point seems very convincing!

>In fact, societies where resources were wasted protecting elders (who cannot reproduce and increase the numbers of the society or protect the people who do)

I'm surprised too, assuming you're OP. For some reason, you thought a fit, able-bodied 25-year-old man couldn't reproduce or protect himself!

>>7951289
>In the 1900s, you rarely lived past 50.
That's just wrong.
Average life expectancy was low because so many kids died at such a young age.

>>7951008
bacause everyone assumes they're going to be elders eventually and would like to be taken care of when it happens

>>7951130
>>7951122
>>7951128
Care homes exist because stupid Americans kick their kids out at age 18. In the third world where I am from there are no care homes, my recently deceased aunt was in her 90s and still living at home with everyone else.

>>7951332
It is true, all you have to do is go to Africa and see that there is barely anyone over 70.

>>7951332
excuses excuses

so we are cared for when we are elders, and so on

>evolutionary purpose
>civilization has only existed for 10000 years at a stretch

>>7951008
The wisdom of the last generation is essential for the survival of the next

>>7951008
>Why do we care for elders?
Look up the Grandmother hypothesis.
https://youtu.be/bubOcI11sps