Marsdreamer t1_j9i7yo9 wrote
Reply to comment by Somnif in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442
Pretty true. To kinda expound on that, it works "up," but it can get stuck on local maxima rather than global maxima. Picture two mountains separated by a valley and one being higher than the other. If a species is 'climbing' the smaller peak of fitness then once it gets there it can theoretically never climb down the valley and start climbing the taller mountain. It will always* be stuck on that smaller peak because Evolution doesn't know how to take short term pain for long term gain. It's effectively a greedy algorithm to borrow from a CS concept.
*As long as conditions stay exactly the same. The adaptive landscape is always changing.
dmilin t1_j9iuy2i wrote
This is believed to be the reason no species ever developed wheels despite them being incredibly efficient. It's simply too large an evolutionary jump.
cochese25 t1_j9j7aj7 wrote
Aye, might not be a wheel, exactly, but there's at least one insect with interlocking gears in their legs that help them jump. a planthopper! https://www.livescience.com/39577-insects-with-leg-gears-discovered.html
moepsenstreusel t1_j9jgu5t wrote
How useful would wheels be without roads?
chx_ t1_j9j0pkh wrote
Also, sorry for the amateurish questions, wouldn't that require a rotating axle which is kinda impossible to develop? Like, everything is connected to the rest of the body. Maybe some weird symbiosis could do it? :)
gayness_in_uranus t1_j9j6qy5 wrote
Well, at least on the microscopic scale rotating joints are a thing, some bacteria and archaea have rotating flagella. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellum
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