> I sort of figure it's Natural Selection at play, all these folks who choose to poison themselves and embrace chronic illness as something that is inevitable will eventually fall out of the Gene pool, unfortunately the destruction they cause during and on the way out costs all of us an enormous amount of resources.
That’s not how natural selection works. Men over the age of 50 father less than %1 of babies, and it’s lower than that for women. So if a tendency to embrace chronic pathological behaviors is genetic, the offspring will be born long before the behavior catches up with them. Things get a little more complicated because of the inter generational support networks. The older generation does support their offspring, but at eventually will need support, and take resources from the breeding cohort. Which is the only cohort natural selection cares about.
That’s not how natural selection works. Men over the age of 50 father less than %1 of babies, and it’s lower than that for women. So if a tendency to embrace chronic pathological behaviors is genetic, the offspring will be born long before the behavior catches up with them. Things get a little more complicated because of the inter generational support networks. The older generation does support their offspring, but at eventually will need support, and take resources from the breeding cohort. Which is the only cohort natural selection cares about.