"Retroactive Why's" are useful because on evolutionary timescales, and it must be if it impacts mice and people, even a very tiny selective pressure causes harmful traits to be selected against.
If as few as 1 in 10,000 reproductions were prevented by a trait then we should expect that trait to be gone in a million years. And our last common ancestor with mice was likely 65 of those past.
Harmful traits can linger if they confer some other benefit. Other's have already worked through this and are rightfully asking, "If this is so harmful it should be have been selected against, what does it do to help us get to successful reproduction in the environment it evolved in?"
okay so explain our short telomeres promoting cancer
what are armchair archeologists going to say, “thats because it enabled strong community ties and the humans with long telomeres didn't value life as strongly” as opposed to being a total freak accident that had nothing to do with anything
If as few as 1 in 10,000 reproductions were prevented by a trait then we should expect that trait to be gone in a million years. And our last common ancestor with mice was likely 65 of those past.
Harmful traits can linger if they confer some other benefit. Other's have already worked through this and are rightfully asking, "If this is so harmful it should be have been selected against, what does it do to help us get to successful reproduction in the environment it evolved in?"