There's a premise here that deserves scrutiny -- that longevity (beyond reproductive age) has evolutionary benefits. Nature may well prefer that older individuals die off.
longevity has many evolutionary benefits, the biggest one being that older generation can pass on survival-essential knowledge and skill to the younger generations.
this process exists not only in humans, but in most animals, and the improvement is continuous, it never stops.
furthermore, the longest-surviving individuals (with the tightest bonds) are able to pass on the most survival knowledge to their descendants, creating an exponential effect.
Fair point. But it has evolutionary disadvantages, too. If food scarcity has been a challenge across evolutionary scales (which seems reasonable), then the utility function might prioritize scarce resources for the reproductively fit.
My point is that it's challenging to make a watertight argument that "we should do X, because evolution suggests that we should."
> Fair point. But it has evolutionary disadvantages, too. If food scarcity has been a challenge across evolutionary scales (which seems reasonable), then the utility function might prioritize scarce resources for the reproductively fit.
That's typically how it has been prioritized, if food scarcity was an issue.
> My point is that it's challenging to make a watertight argument that "we should do X, because evolution suggests that we should."
Sure, but most of the time I would bet dollars to donuts that environmental variables we evolved in will be better for us than new ones, just like in well-aged software time-tested inputs are more likely to work than new stuff you've never tried before.
A great example that's relevant today is that people in the West over 60 yo remember society pre-Social Marxism.
There's a lot of their Youtube videos on how successful families are constructed for the benefit of individuals and society, which is a "lost art" today.
this process exists not only in humans, but in most animals, and the improvement is continuous, it never stops.
furthermore, the longest-surviving individuals (with the tightest bonds) are able to pass on the most survival knowledge to their descendants, creating an exponential effect.