system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How is having such dependent offspring selectively advantageous for humans?
gpt
Well, first of all, humans are extremely K-selected in comparison to most mammals. We put a lot of effort  and care into each individual which is born. You can have a supremely dependent offspring when you put a lot of care into it.  Additionally, our babies are born in what we call a secondarily altricial state. We are less developed at birth than what you'd see in most primate species.  Basically, we are born before you would be expected with regards to our brain (and body) development. Much of this is related to brain size. We are born relatively large-brained, but have neonatal brains that are in a less  developed state (relative to final brain size) than seen in our primate relatives.  It has been hypothesized that this is due to the "obstetric dilemma," where you can only manage to squeeze out a head of a certain size through the pelvic outlet (although there are some researchers who indicate that this might not necessarily be the case).  

It is also interesting to note that humans are really good at taking care of our kids after they are weaned.  Most primates do not engage in significant direct care of offspring following weaning. Primate juveniles are pretty much on their own in terms of finding food following weaning -- and have correspondingly high rates of mortality. In contrast, humans engage in significant food sharing and direct care for individuals after weaning.  This period called "childhood" (see work by Barry Bogin and friends) not only increases offspring survival, but also reduces interbirth interval by lowering the amount of time spent in lactation.  As females demonstrate reproductive suppression during lactation, reducing this period allows us to resume cycling faster and allows us to have additional kids while still having dependent offspring. In contrast, other ape species have extremely long interbirth intervals as their period of lactation (and thus reproductive suppression) is longer than found among humans.