<story><title>Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/20/early-humans-may-have-survived-the-harsh-winters-by-hibernating</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dTal</author><text>That doesn&amp;#x27;t float. Natural selection can never select for suicide to benefit the group, unless the group is genetically identical - such a trait simply isn&amp;#x27;t adaptive.</text></item><item><author>hh3k0</author><text>&amp;gt; I have long had the hunch that depression (and especially SAD) make sense from an evolutionary perspective as a sort of hibernation strategy.&lt;p&gt;Interesting, I&amp;#x27;ve long had the hunch that an evolutionary purpose of depression could be to strengthen a tribe by weeding out individuals that are a burden to said tribe, as self-perceived burden seems to be closely linked to the disorder.</text></item><item><author>tokai</author><text>I have long had the hunch that depression (and especially SAD) make sense from an evolutionary perspective as a sort of hibernation strategy. Common symptoms like lowered appetite and psychomotor retardation, coupled with the episodic nature of most depressive disorders, seems like a good fit for hibernating behaviour.&lt;p&gt;Fascinating research. Would be very interesting if the conclusions could be supported by other dig sites.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>quesera</author><text>I think you might be combining Darwinism with Dawkinsism here.&lt;p&gt;Natural selection isn&amp;#x27;t necessarily preservational of individual genes (nor of genotypes). It just argues that the survivors are more genetically fit for survival. This aligns with GP&amp;#x27;s comment.&lt;p&gt;The Selfish Gene theory argues that behaviours among the group tend toward preservation of the genotype. Family over strangers, generally.&lt;p&gt;I do take issue with GP&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;evolutionary purpose&amp;quot; -- these two words cannot be combined in a meaningful way. But, interpreted as &amp;quot;evolutionary contribution&amp;quot;, it could make sense.&lt;p&gt;All that said, I also don&amp;#x27;t think that GP&amp;#x27;s idea floats, nor does it hold water. Genetic predisposition to depression is very poorly understood, but seems (to me) to be just ordinary phenotypical noise in the signal. Quasi-random variation which is to be expected in any sufficiently complicated system.</text></comment>
<story><title>Early humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/20/early-humans-may-have-survived-the-harsh-winters-by-hibernating</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dTal</author><text>That doesn&amp;#x27;t float. Natural selection can never select for suicide to benefit the group, unless the group is genetically identical - such a trait simply isn&amp;#x27;t adaptive.</text></item><item><author>hh3k0</author><text>&amp;gt; I have long had the hunch that depression (and especially SAD) make sense from an evolutionary perspective as a sort of hibernation strategy.&lt;p&gt;Interesting, I&amp;#x27;ve long had the hunch that an evolutionary purpose of depression could be to strengthen a tribe by weeding out individuals that are a burden to said tribe, as self-perceived burden seems to be closely linked to the disorder.</text></item><item><author>tokai</author><text>I have long had the hunch that depression (and especially SAD) make sense from an evolutionary perspective as a sort of hibernation strategy. Common symptoms like lowered appetite and psychomotor retardation, coupled with the episodic nature of most depressive disorders, seems like a good fit for hibernating behaviour.&lt;p&gt;Fascinating research. Would be very interesting if the conclusions could be supported by other dig sites.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nicoburns</author><text>Natural selection of whole group does make sense if they are genetically related (and you consider the fact that in addition to individual dying off, it is possible for whole groups to die off (over longer time scales))</text></comment>