• Hegar
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    571 year ago

    Plant: Wait, so you’re going to replant me, in massive numbers, all across the planet? kk nm, go ahead.

    • IninewCrow
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      1 year ago

      One of reasons why some biologists suggest that one of the most evolutionarily successful animals on the planet is the farm chicken.

      At an estimated global population of 35 billion, it’s definitely doing a lot better than our 8 billion.

      And evolutionarily successful doesn’t mean you get to be the best, fastest, strongest and have the best most comfortable life … evolutionary success just means that there are more of your species creating more generations of your kind everywhere. The hope being that the more there are of your species, the more likely your kind will survive in the future.

      • Hegar
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        1 year ago

        I’ve heard archaeologists suggest that in far future times this will be known as the chicken age, because of the volume and likely preservation of chicken bones.

        • @hglman@lemmy.ml
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          61 year ago

          I mean that is true about a lot of things. Millions of insect plant pairs where one of the two requires the other to live.

          • @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            21 year ago

            i mean, most of them would die without our protection and feeding, but yeah it’s very hyperbolical to say that the entire chicken species would die out if we got raptured

        • @kemsat@lemmy.world
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          21 year ago

          Yes, but, there are so many of them that we plant that, even if we suddenly popped out of existence, there would still be enough survivors for the species to continue.

        • @Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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          11 year ago

          i mean the same is true of many nectarivores and their partner plants, both species are wholly reliant upon each other to survive.

        • IninewCrow
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          81 year ago

          The turnover in generations is all that evolutionary success is. It’s the mechanism that’s been driving life on earth for three billion years. It doesn’t mean that the individual life form is happy or comfortable … it just means it lived long enough to create another generation.

            • @Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              They never said natural selection. But that doesn’t matter. Evolution happens regardless of whether the selection is natural or artificial. All they were talking about was reproductive success and how that is the driver of selection. They even made it clear that evolution cares not for the quality of life just that the genes are passed down.

              Spelling

              • @killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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                11 year ago

                Then call it reproductive success instead of dishonestly causing it evolutionary success. And I didn’t state that evolution requires or doesn’t require anything, you brought that up - we’re talking about whether it’s considered successful, which is a philosophical question.

                Artificial selection is not a reflection of a species’ ability to survive in the natural world and to me that is not an example of success over the longer, think-billions-of-years, term.

                • Weirdly enough evolution doesn’t care about long term success. It only cares about short term success leading to local maximums. If evolution cared about long term success humans would have optic nerves that faced the right way and no cancer, but that was sacrificed during evolution.

                  Oh and all of animal evolution had happened in less than a billion years.

      • Try not to think about it. Being able to grow food meant more people staying put which meant the violent were dealt with. We show the impacts of this process the way domesticated animals do, neoteny.

    • Pyr
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      41 year ago

      We’re also going to change your genes to benefit ourselves and you’ll be completely reliant on our own survival which is looking more and more dubious with each passing year.

        • Pyr
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          51 year ago

          Selective evolution, most crops look nothing like the original plant that humans originally cultivated. We choose the breed of plants which benefit us most, and the majority probably wouldn’t survive in the wild if monoculture fertilized farms disappeared if humans went extinct.

  • Meanwhile humans spread those planets across the planet, cultivate it, and kill anything that tries to mess with it. Without us those plants would be living a sad little existence defeated by the next time a bug evolves slightly. Who played who?

  • @LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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    51 year ago

    Isn’t this because they have anti-bacterial properties? So that you can preserve food and especially in hot climates you don’t get food poisoning as easily?

    • Yup! I studied evolutionary psychology in college. Different seasonings helped make food safer to eat in hotter climates. My prof said “that’s why if you leave a really salty piece of jerky under your bed, it’s probably fine.”

      Also explains why cultures up north typically didn’t adapt a preference for spicy food as the cold allowed them to preserve food that way

      • @ammonium@lemmy.world
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        31 year ago

        That doesn’t really make much sense since salted and pickled foods are eaten up north. The more logical explanation is that spicy food doesn’t grow up north.

        • @LarmyOfLone@lemm.ee
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          21 year ago

          Maybe in hotter climates you have more problems with bacteria vs fungus / rot in colder climates? Another explanation is that spicy / hot food is popular because it forces you to drink more water. But it’s all speculation on my part, never found any definitive answers.

  • tygerprints
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    11 year ago

    But what about cilantro. It tastes like s#it. To me. Yet everyone else seems to love it. It’s very bitter and acrid, I don’t like it. I can barely handly the slightest hint of garlic in most food. I prefer the taste of food without embellishment - like meat without sauces or spices, it’s already pretty flavorful as is.

        • @EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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          51 year ago

          In other words it’s not cilantro that’s bad, it’s just this guy’s mom grew him wrong and his genes came out all wonky.

          • tygerprints
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            01 year ago

            Maybe she “grew me wrong,” but I guess that’s how you people pass judgment on others who aren’t exactly like you in every way. If that means I was grown wrong, then I truly thank God for it.

              • tygerprints
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                21 year ago

                Then I do humbly apologize for being thin skinned. I’ll force myself to go eat cilantro as a punishment.

                • @EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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                  21 year ago

                  Hahaha shit happens. Seriously though, out of curiosity, would you say it tastes like soap to you? Because that’s what I’ve always heard when it comes to that gene

        • @Grass@sh.itjust.works
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          31 year ago

          This is the best TIL I have had in the last several months. I always thought they were all just wrong about the taste, but they were actually just wrong genetically.

    • @Psythik@lemmy.world
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      11 year ago

      I like it because it has a unique, sharp, pungent flavor that is unlike anything else I’ve ever eaten. I can’t get enough of the stuff. I could literally put an entire bunch of cilantro in any dish that calls for it. Doesn’t taste bitter nor acrid at all. It makes a lot of Asian and Mexican dishes taste so much better. I wish I could better describe what it tastes like to me to people who don’t like it, cause y’all are really missing out.

      • tygerprints
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        11 year ago

        To me it’s so bitter I can’t even bite down on it. It reminds me of syphoning gas for the lawn mower as a kid and getting a mouthful of kerosene. BLECH.

        • @Psythik@lemmy.world
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          11 year ago

          Man that is so foreign and bizarre to me. My mouth is watering just thinking about cilantro right now.

          • tygerprints
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            1 year ago

            Well all of us have unique likes and dislikes, maybe our tastebuds are as unique as our fingerprints. I only know that I can’t abide the taste of cilantro. I do use a lot of other herbs, like thyme and basil that a lot milder, but only lightly because - well I love how things taste without other stuff on them. I am weird that way.

    • @Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sounds like you are a super taster. My wife is a super taster too. She can’t eat food that has been in the same room as cilantro. She likes meat cooked medium well, with maybe just a hint of season salt. She is the only person I know who likes easting salad without any dressing. Anything spicy is absolutely out of the question for her, including green peppers.

      • tygerprints
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        11 year ago

        That sounds like me in every way. I also make my salad with no dressing on it, I prefer the taste of the veggies which are quite strong to me. And I don’t even put syrup on pancakes, it overwhelms the amazing taste of them. I like meat with just a hint of salt also. Maybe we were separated at birth! Everyone has unique flavors they like or don’t like.