4 ms·

I think they just don't have any need/pressure to be more efficient than that

• londons_explore 3y ago
  If you can collect more carbon, you can grow faster, letting you put big leaves to collect more light and overshadow and kill all the plants below you. Being a plant is, locally, a winner-takes-all market. So there is a very strong incentive for carbon-efficiency.
  • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
    Next thing -HN guys discovers that markets aren’t any more efficient than plants are
  • padolsey 3y ago
    Hmmm, I don’t think that's accurate. To label plant ecosystems as 'winner-takes-all' really misses the forest for the trees (sorry..!). It's not all about sun-hogging; different species have unique needs and abilities, thrive in symbiotic relationships, and flourish under different conditions. For instance, take the relationship between certain fungi and tree roots, where the fungi provide the trees with hard-to-reach nutrients and, in turn, the trees supply sugars to the fungi. It's not a simple competition, it's a world full of complex interactions, adaptations and interdependencies. That's generally why we refer to these as 'ecosystems', no?
  • adrianN 3y ago
    Only of carbon is the limiting factor in your niche and not, say, nitrogen or phosphorus.