5 ms·
biology on an evolutionary timescale is exceedingly clever, more ingenious than us humans. you don't need an axle, just something roundish (eyeballs or even pea
by clairity 6y ago
biology on an evolutionary timescale is exceedingly clever, more ingenious than us humans. you don't need an axle, just something roundish (eyeballs or even pearls, for example).
- thombat 6y agoThe organism will need something like a fluid rotary union so the nervous and circulatory system can reach the rotating part, or that part will be limited to very low metabolic levels (basically diffusion). That will certainly be ingenious.
- clairity 6y agocertainly, but biology is amazing. our muscles are basically chemical ratchets interconnected throughout a mosaic of levers (ignoring the complex control and feedback mechanisms, as well as the energy and waste systems, for a moment). also, your point is why i mentioned pearls--not all tissue needs to be activated or enervated similarly, or at all. we should have no doubt that biology would find a way given enough time.
- Robotbeat 6y agoIt has found a way! Through engineering. We invented wheels, and we’re a result of evolution. Dung beetles have engineered something similar, although no axle (yet).
- Robotbeat 6y agoAnd yet it hasn’t happened! So I think that means there are fundamental reasons why it’s difficult for evolutionary processes.
- squarefoot 6y agoThat would be really really hard to achieve in nature. What about a millipede? To me they're the closest thing to a legged and a tracked-like creature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xysbNbvUDZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xysbNbvUDZA