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I know nothing about biology, but how about this: The evolutionary path was influenced via selection. Those who made and used tools were more likely to survive
by kyzyl 12y ago
I know nothing about biology, but how about this:
The evolutionary path was influenced via selection. Those who made and used tools were more likely to survive/mate successfully, and those who made and used tools also tended to use them as eating utensils, which mechanically leads to an overbite. So eating with a fork doesn't directly lead to being selected for survival, but it's likely if you eat with utensils you also use other tools for things like hunting, defence, etc. and that does lead to increased survival.
- deeviant 12y agoIt doesn't work like that. That type of association is called "Lamarckian" after Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who posited that animals can "pass on characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring"[1]. But animals do not pass on traits they acquired during their lifetime via genetics. So even if utensils over one's life caused a overbite, it would not be transmitted via genetics to one's offspring. In order for evolution and utensils to interact via selection, it would have to be the case in which there was a genetic trait associated with an overbite that made you more fit when using utensils than those without it, thus out-mating the competition. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism