Physiological Phenomena that Cause Troubles and Suffering or Even Death: Part II: Phenoptotic Phenomena Different from Slow Phenoptosis

There are numberless phenomena, collectively defined as phenoptosis, in which natural selection, instead of favoring mechanisms enhancing individual survival, on the contrary, favors mechanisms that kill the individual, increase the probability of death, or even determine the death of close blood relatives of individuals. These events would seem impossible in an evolutionary logic, yet they exist and are determined by natural selection on the basis of supra-individual selection. The consideration and understanding of these phenomena are indispensable for the interpretation of many biological phenomena and also of many phenomena that, in various ways, concern medicine. Phenoptotic phenomena have been extensively discussed in (Libertini et al., 2021, Chap. 2—Evolution and Phenoptosis), to which reference is made for further information. This chapter will present a synthesis favoring the most interesting facts and concepts for evolutionary medicine.