4 ms·
Nope. "with little damage". That's damage. "It's better off for a Dipteryx oleifera tree to be struck than not" -- because its neighbors will be struck and k
by crazygringo 2y ago
Nope.
"with little damage".
That's damage.
"It's better off for a Dipteryx oleifera tree to be struck than not" -- because its neighbors will be struck and killed. Not because it got struck.
The article presents zero evidence that being struck by lightning has any direct beneficial effects. It's not like how muscles grow back stronger. It's more like, a horrible disease maimed you and killed your neighbors, but now you can eat better because you're raising crops in their backyards. But the disease didn't make you healthier!
At least this is according to the facts the article presents.
- ceejayoz 2y agoNot all damage is bad. Callouses on our feet are useful damage. Vining plants need branches to break off to promote new vining. Deciduous trees drop their leaves. Humpback whales do belly flops to dislodge parasites. Evolving to be more likely to get struck by lightning means they're freed of parasitic vines more frequently. That's beneficial damage.
- crazygringo 2y agoYou're confusing two different kinds of damage. There is the kind that makes you stronger or more adapted -- muscles, callouses. Then there's the kind that's just bad. Injuries, the flu, stress. Lightning is the second kind. The tree doesn't get stronger. The tree doesn't adapt. It just gets damaged. If someone whacks me on the head so I get concussed, but kills a bee in the process about to sting me, are you going to say that whacking me on the head was "beneficial damage"? That would be crazy. Sure it's helpful that some vines get killed. That's something separate from the damage caused by the lightning to the tree. The tree is still damaged from it, in the bad way.
- jessekv 2y agoIs sharpening a knife damaging it? It gets a bit philosophical I suppose.