Termites build mounds, beavers construct dams, bees assemble hives, and spiders weave webs. The drive to build is ubiquitous in the natural world and is an evolved strategy to cope with uncertain, complex, and dangerous habitats. This force, known as niche construction, reduces the environment to manageable and predictable units, shields organisms from known risks,… Continue reading Sand Castles
Tag: Niche Construction
Death by Dashboards
Due to the glacial pace of evolutionary adaptation in many if not most ways, the genome could be considered a lagging indicator. It is tuned to invariants of a bygone regime - the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA). Life would probably be not as robust and diversified if it had to solely rely on a… Continue reading Death by Dashboards
Fluency and Its Illusions
Although we think of information overload as a contemporary phenomenon, throughout evolutionary history organisms have always had to grapple with a world brimming with noisy data. Ever present and life threatening features such as camouflaged prey, lurking predators, strategizing competitors, invasive species, weather changes, and insecure food supply have always been part of the challenges… Continue reading Fluency and Its Illusions
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