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Hmm, why can’t there be evolution without death? As long as organism reproduce, genes are passed on, and some reproduce more successfully than others, why would it matter if existing individuals stay around or not? I don’t see how it makes evolution fundamentally impossible.

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hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Without death you can’t have reproduction, you’d get way too many organisms to be sustainable in any way.

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dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
death is what paves the way for change. Old ideas literally die out, since the dawn of time.

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- dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  That is indeed what happens, and it is helpful. But I disagree evolution wouldn’t happen without it.
  
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  - dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    the laws of thermodynamics though, you eventually die. You eventually spend resources, you eventually have to obtain more, etc. Unless you are perfect, you may be killed unless you know your environment perfectly, no?
    
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    dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Yeah, but that’s an argument against being able to live forever, not an argument against evolution being able to happen, if you did.
    
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ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
So we could go visit our great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents and they’d look like Jabba the Hutt. Holidays would be a beast.

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