In article <1995Feb16.195246.21890 at news.media.mit.edu>,
Marvin Minsky <minsky at media.mit.edu> wrote:
>In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.950216084602.6365B-100000 at corona> Patrick O'Neil <patrick at corona> writes:
>>>It could certainly help but think of what this would mean in terms of you
>>as a parent. You would be taking care of your children for however long
>>it took for them to mature. Instead of 18 to 22 years of rearing per
>>child, you could end up with 20 to 30 years of parenting per child. Of
>>course, such a daunting reality might itself lead to a lower birthrate as
>>people who couldn't handle the extra time opted out of having kids.
>>Puberty usually means onset of sexual maturity. It might be mainly
>because of *that* that you have to "take care" of them after 12.
>
Nonsense. Puberty and mental maturity are not one and the same.
Consider puberty more of an activation of sexuality, in humans
it is then a constant state; in most animals, it's an annual
cycle.
--
rha
