Showerthoughts

29237 readers

508 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

All posts must be showerthoughts
The entire showerthought must be in the title
Posts must be original/unique
Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

When you say something is “red” it’s actually every color except red since red is the color being reflected off the object. (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What’s your new favorite color now???

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] 4am 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In other words:

eyes that worked well in those color frequencies we know as “visible light” were able to find food and dodge danger better.
Those creatures lived longer and had babies who shared those traits
eyes that were more sensitive to other frequencies couldn’t work as well due to the environment they existed in, and as a result didn’t survive as well.
Not as many of them left to mate (hell, could have had a hard time even finding a mate!)

This is how natural selection optimizes life traits. It takes hundreds of thousands of generations for profound effects to emerge. You’re currently at the bleeding edge of life tech. Enjoy the details!

[–] fubo 6 points 1 year ago

Eyes have evolved in several separate animal lineages. You, a bee, an octopus, and a box-jellyfish all have eyes, but their most recent common ancestors did not have eyes. Your eyes are different in many ways from those other species', but they all have to make use of sunlight filtered through a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and water. So it's unsurprising that they end up with some similar "design" features.