A lot of stuff in nature *just is*, and there doesn’t have to be any reason for its existence. Nature is messy and chaotic, and that’s one of the beautiful things about it.
Why do we like some of things and dislike others? Why do some people find some things sexually arousing and some don’t? Why does sexuality and gender identity vary between people? Why do some people like video games, or snowboarding, or dancing, or doing theater, or collecting rocks, or all sorts of different things, and some don’t? Why are some people introspective and like philosophizing and others don’t? And then there’s all sorts of different physical variances like height, size, shape, colour, etc
Sure, some of these may have evolutionary reasons, but do all of them? Or maybe a lot of variance in humans (and nature in general) *just is* because nature is not clean, robotic, and perfectly logical, and never has been?
Nature is messy, chaotic, and it’s not clean or perfect or able to fit in perfect categories. And that’s what makes nature interesting and beautiful. It wouldn’t be the same if everything operated like a perfect robotic machine, if that would even be possible in the first place.
Why do we like some of things and dislike others?
Why do some people like video games, or snowboarding, or dancing, or doing theater, or collecting rocks, or all sorts of different things, and some don’t?
it’s true though, our pattern-seeking brains get us hung up on the idea there has to be a purpose for everything but we forget we’re the ones defining and assigning “purpose”
nature is not clean, robotic, and perfectly logical, and never has been?
To be clear tho, things don’t just happen in nature for funsies, or magically without any purpose at all. All evolution has “logic”, even if it doesn’t necessarily follow our own. Species don’t evolve randomly for the fun of it.
Except evolution literally does result in random mutations that don’t necessarily have any function, or solutions that are sub-par or inefficient, or whatever else. Or things that have unintentional consequences elsewhere. Nature is not perfect.
Nobody’s saying it’s perfect, but it’s never completely random. The adaptations may be subpar or inefficient, but they still happened to serve a purpose, even if they did so less than perfectly.
No animal evolves in a particular way for literally no reason.
A lot of stuff in nature *just is*, and there doesn’t have to be any reason for its existence. Nature is messy and chaotic, and that’s one of the beautiful things about it.
Why do we like some of things and dislike others? Why do some people find some things sexually arousing and some don’t? Why does sexuality and gender identity vary between people? Why do some people like video games, or snowboarding, or dancing, or doing theater, or collecting rocks, or all sorts of different things, and some don’t? Why are some people introspective and like philosophizing and others don’t? And then there’s all sorts of different physical variances like height, size, shape, colour, etc
Sure, some of these may have evolutionary reasons, but do all of them? Or maybe a lot of variance in humans (and nature in general) *just is* because nature is not clean, robotic, and perfectly logical, and never has been?
Nature is messy, chaotic, and it’s not clean or perfect or able to fit in perfect categories. And that’s what makes nature interesting and beautiful. It wouldn’t be the same if everything operated like a perfect robotic machine, if that would even be possible in the first place.
this post is like a more intellectual version of the opening speech in Rubber
it’s true though, our pattern-seeking brains get us hung up on the idea there has to be a purpose for everything but we forget we’re the ones defining and assigning “purpose”
To be clear tho, things don’t just happen in nature for funsies, or magically without any purpose at all. All evolution has “logic”, even if it doesn’t necessarily follow our own. Species don’t evolve randomly for the fun of it.
Except evolution literally does result in random mutations that don’t necessarily have any function, or solutions that are sub-par or inefficient, or whatever else. Or things that have unintentional consequences elsewhere. Nature is not perfect.
Nobody’s saying it’s perfect, but it’s never completely random. The adaptations may be subpar or inefficient, but they still happened to serve a purpose, even if they did so less than perfectly.
No animal evolves in a particular way for literally no reason.