Evolution
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Groups never evolve into something. Species do.
Theropods are a group comprising a lot of species.
There was one species of theropod that evolved a few characterics we associate with birds. They evolved into a few species and some of them evolved into yet more species. They're at the origin of the whole bird group.
See it like a tree with branches branching out with many branchss just getting cut short. One of that branching branch is the bird group, and it's on the branching branch of theropod.
And yes, the branching branchs that are Sauropods and Ornithischia were all completely cut at the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction 65 million years ago.
Yeah. It was admittedly a bit heartbreaking to discover that it appears that there are no extant descendents of any sauropod or ornithischia species.
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One fungus will eventually manage to mind control the crabs, like some already do with ants.
Hopefully, in a less destructive and more symbiotic manner. As much as I have a grudge against odorous house ants, I wouldn't wish cordyceps on them, much less our future crab descendents.
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"shan't" is a great word
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The midpoint to the end of Evolution, humans basically devolve and ultimately go extinct.
It's been awhile since I've read anything by him as well.
I remember another book where artifically created people inside a dwarf star were dying due to solar harvesting, IIRC. I remember it being depressing but fascinating. Don't remember how it ends.
Yeah, very fair. I guess i quite like the bleakness. I love dark and gritty stories.
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Yeah, very fair. I guess i quite like the bleakness. I love dark and gritty stories.
He's an incredible author, I'd put him up there with Alastair Reynolds. I just can't handle it.
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Crustaceans: Crab
Mammals:
WeaselCrabPlants:
TreeGrass. Everything grass.Amphibians & Reptiles:
Unchanged because they are perfectCrabBirds:
360° around back to dinosaursFirst of all, avian dinosaurs are dinosaurs. Secondly, 360° doesn't really make sense, probably they meant 180°. Finally, crab.Fungi: I shan't speculate on the affairs of gods.
Moral of the story: You might not like it but decapods are peak animal evolution. All roads lead to crab.
wrote last edited by [email protected]360° makes sense if the starting point was dinosaurs. Birds would be the 180° mark.
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There's a phenomenal documentary series called The Future Is Wild that speculates on this question.
https://youtube.com/@thefutureiswildofficial
https://www.thefutureiswild.com/
It has 3 parts, projecting to 5, 100 and 200 million years into the future.
The main theme is that niches determine attributes. So when an opportunity opens up, one species will evolve to fill that niche. For instance sea birds evolve into whales. Octopodes evolve into primates.
I loved this as a kid. It was one of a handful of really influential pieces of media from my childhood.
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Plants? Crabgrass.
^ Winner of the thread.
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Crustaceans: Extinct
Mammals: Extinct
Plants: Extinct
Amphibians & Reptiles: Extinct
Birds: Extinct
Fungi: Interstellar hive-mind
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Crustaceans: Crab
Mammals:
WeaselCrabPlants:
TreeGrass. Everything grass.Amphibians & Reptiles:
Unchanged because they are perfectCrabBirds:
360° around back to dinosaursFirst of all, avian dinosaurs are dinosaurs. Secondly, 360° doesn't really make sense, probably they meant 180°. Finally, crab.Fungi: I shan't speculate on the affairs of gods.
Moral of the story: You might not like it but decapods are peak animal evolution. All roads lead to crab.
Ring the crab bell
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Plants keep evolving and devolving into trees every 100 generations.
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Crustaceans: Crab
Mammals:
WeaselCrabPlants:
TreeGrass. Everything grass.Amphibians & Reptiles:
Unchanged because they are perfectCrabBirds:
360° around back to dinosaursFirst of all, avian dinosaurs are dinosaurs. Secondly, 360° doesn't really make sense, probably they meant 180°. Finally, crab.Fungi: I shan't speculate on the affairs of gods.
Moral of the story: You might not like it but decapods are peak animal evolution. All roads lead to crab.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Plant evolution is anything but stable. They keep evolving and devolving from weeds to trees and back every few 100 generations.
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Raccoon also seems to be a pretty popular mammal convergance. Or generally small climbing quadruped with a varied diet and at least semi-functional hands.
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Hot take: the fungi will take over all existing animal and plant life, and create a whole biosphere of fungi. Fungi crustaceans, fungi mammals, fungi plants, fungi amphibians, fungi reptiles, fungi birds.
The fungi humans would have achieved world peace, because there's no genders to create inequalities, and with spores flying everywhere, unwanted infidelity and physical differences are so common that anger and jealousy makes no sense.
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Hot take: the fungi will take over all existing animal and plant life, and create a whole biosphere of fungi. Fungi crustaceans, fungi mammals, fungi plants, fungi amphibians, fungi reptiles, fungi birds.
The fungi humans would have achieved world peace, because there's no genders to create inequalities, and with spores flying everywhere, unwanted infidelity and physical differences are so common that anger and jealousy makes no sense.
Sure, but we will always have racism to fall back on
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Plants? Crabgrass.
Hotel? Trivago.
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Crustaceans: Crab
Mammals:
WeaselCrabPlants:
TreeGrass. Everything grass.Amphibians & Reptiles:
Unchanged because they are perfectCrabBirds:
360° around back to dinosaursFirst of all, avian dinosaurs are dinosaurs. Secondly, 360° doesn't really make sense, probably they meant 180°. Finally, crab.Fungi: I shan't speculate on the affairs of gods.
Moral of the story: You might not like it but decapods are peak animal evolution. All roads lead to crab.
Secondly, 360° doesn't really make sense, probably they meant 180°.
It makes sense if you consider birds to be a mid-360° position of dinosaur evolution. They started at "classic" dinosaurs, pivoted to the avian variety, and will continue to pivot until they return to their classic form.
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There's a phenomenal documentary series called The Future Is Wild that speculates on this question.
https://youtube.com/@thefutureiswildofficial
https://www.thefutureiswild.com/
It has 3 parts, projecting to 5, 100 and 200 million years into the future.
The main theme is that niches determine attributes. So when an opportunity opens up, one species will evolve to fill that niche. For instance sea birds evolve into whales. Octopodes evolve into primates.
I loved this as a kid. It was one of a handful of really influential pieces of media from my childhood.
I'm actually surprised octopus haven't evolved more than they already have. I suppose they would have to evolve skeletons to be able to survive on land so that's probably what's holding them back.
