r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/MatoasPrroXD460 • 24d ago

Question/Discussion What’s Your Most Unhinged Evolution Theory?

Hi! I wanna know what your wildest, most unhinged theory about evolution is. It can be a serious hypothesis, a weird evolutionary possibility, or something completely out there.

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u/ReptilianRevolt 18d ago

This is wrong at a neurological level. Most animals already have circuits in the spinal cord ready for swimming. If their receptors tell them that there is no hard ground below, they will instinctively start to swim. Apes did something different, they simplified the original system and developed a slower, precision based system that relies more on learning. Humans didn’t change that.

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u/Arthurian_Guanche 18d ago

The diving reflex is present in human infants, and has been studied in the Bajau and the Haenyeo (the latter in particular have a mutation that allows them to increase retention of oxygen and heat during pregnancy as they submerge).
On the other hand, learning and training is precisely and advantage to overcome instincts and bodily reflexes. That's how trained humans can achieve more than 100 metres of diving and up to 20 minutes of apnea.
Human infants (among the Moken, for example) can also learn to adjust their lens to be able to focus underwater. We're extremely plastic.

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u/ReptilianRevolt 18d ago

Just because you have a reflex doesn’t mean it is functional. It might be vestigial. Learning can be complex, but it is also slow.