We humans are unique among the earth's creatures in that we have a lot more to do in life than propagate the species. In other words, when you're postmenopausal, your job is far from done. In fact, David Bainbridge, a veterinarian and science writer on the staff of Cambridge University claims that you're the "pinnacle of evolution." That's what he told the "Telegraph," in an interview about his article in "The New Scientist."
Bainbridge says your fifth and sixth decades are a period "not of decline but of development . . .Each of us depends on culture to survive, and the main route by which culture is transmitted is by middle-aged people telling children and young adults what to do."
He does admit that skin elasticity diminishes and reading glasses become a necessity, but he maintains that brain power is not diminished. "The multiple roles of middle-aged people in human societies are so complex and intertwined, it could be argued that they are the most impressive living things yet produced by natural selection," he says. "Middle-aged people can do more, earn more and, in short, they run the world."
