this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
582 points (98.3% liked)

Science Memes

11440 readers
193 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
582
To deter predators... (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It bothers me how many people think that evolutionary traits are in any way chosen or designed for a specific purpose.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Same here. Evolution doesn't work that way. It's basically the opposite. Species don't evolve to solve a problem, they evolve randomly and sometimes that solves a problem for them. Or sometimes, it pushes the species into a very narrow niche where its survival is ensured as long as the current extremely precarious situation they find themselves in doesn't change.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Species don’t evolve to solve a problem, they evolve randomly and sometimes that solves a problem for them.

Eh... they mutate randomly, and then selection acts. If there is variation that solves a problem, selection will promote that variation.

Evolution is very much not random, it is a direct consequence of variation and selection. This does not mean that they evolve to solve problems, but problems often drive evolution.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

My God thank you

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Selected through continued survival and reproduction. Maybe a more accurate template would be something like, "Awesome, I've evolved with [trait] which deters predators!"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Who designed the process of evolution?

(Jk)