3 ms·

Common-subatance-ivore is something that already has quite a bit of evolutionary pressure to exist. If it doesn't already its probably because eating it is not

• Terr_ 3y ago
  > If it doesn't already its probably because eating it is not energetically advantageous enough. Counterexample: When trees developed the organic polymer lignin as a building block, it took 30 million years before something (a variety of fungi) evolved to decompose it. Some niches can exist long before they get filled. Also, "evolutionary pressure to exist" is somewhat tricky idea, since one could say there's even more "pressure to exist" as a universe-spanning presence woven immortally into the fabric of spacetime and powered by vaccum-energy etc. While some organism may benefit by stumbling on it, there's no reason to expect they will given the long odds on whatever chain of transitions/developments are needed to get there. (See also: The Astrophage from Project Hail Mary, which has that One Weird Trick suns hate.) We should be careful that we don't catalyze such transitions or adaptations when it isn't in our long-term interests.