Evolution works by minimizing this kind of abnormality, but it never disappears. There’s just too much variance in how our DNA works. That’s a good thing, though, because the environment is not static. Without any variance, we would have died out a long long time ago. We need to adapt to survive in new environmental conditions.
It’s a good point that traits may not be useful now but could be useful later. Perhaps I just lack
Imagination but I can’t visualize the change of season that’s going to make micropenis a survival advantage.
Sometimes it’s not the thing that gives an advantage, but the thing it’s connected to. Perhaps the same same gene that gives them a micropenis also makes them really fit in some other area. It’s unlikely, but possible that the genetic mutation makes them immune to some devastating disease in the future. Genetics are complex.
Evolution still doesn’t work that way. If it prevents you from reproducing (like this probably would), it will be selected against, meaning it will be extremely rare (like this is), but it will never just go away unless it isn’t compatible with life (eg, missing an X chromosome).
I have trouble processing the word “never” in your statements here because evolution has consigned so much to extinction that I don’t understand why traits can “never” disappear. Can you explain why a phenotype that would prevent you from reproducing can “never” lead to a genotype disappearing entirely? Blocking reproduction seems incompatible with life to me.
Because there are so many humans that someone’s almost definitely gonna have it. If there were like a million people, then we probably wouldn’t see many of these traits, but there are 8 billion people around. That means on average, traits that are one in a million are in 8,000 people. Traits that are one in a billion are still likely to be in a handful of people.
If it’s incompatible with life, no one will have that trait, because no one will be born with it. If it merely prevents you from reproducing, it just won’t be heritable, but the mutations/anomalies will still happen, so people will have them.
Evolution works by minimizing this kind of abnormality, but it never disappears. There’s just too much variance in how our DNA works. That’s a good thing, though, because the environment is not static. Without any variance, we would have died out a long long time ago. We need to adapt to survive in new environmental conditions.
It’s a good point that traits may not be useful now but could be useful later. Perhaps I just lack Imagination but I can’t visualize the change of season that’s going to make micropenis a survival advantage.
Sometimes it’s not the thing that gives an advantage, but the thing it’s connected to. Perhaps the same same gene that gives them a micropenis also makes them really fit in some other area. It’s unlikely, but possible that the genetic mutation makes them immune to some devastating disease in the future. Genetics are complex.
He’s certainly less likely to die from a wild dog biting his prick off.
It could be useful in a cold climate
Evolution still doesn’t work that way. If it prevents you from reproducing (like this probably would), it will be selected against, meaning it will be extremely rare (like this is), but it will never just go away unless it isn’t compatible with life (eg, missing an X chromosome).
I have trouble processing the word “never” in your statements here because evolution has consigned so much to extinction that I don’t understand why traits can “never” disappear. Can you explain why a phenotype that would prevent you from reproducing can “never” lead to a genotype disappearing entirely? Blocking reproduction seems incompatible with life to me.
Because there are so many humans that someone’s almost definitely gonna have it. If there were like a million people, then we probably wouldn’t see many of these traits, but there are 8 billion people around. That means on average, traits that are one in a million are in 8,000 people. Traits that are one in a billion are still likely to be in a handful of people.
If it’s incompatible with life, no one will have that trait, because no one will be born with it. If it merely prevents you from reproducing, it just won’t be heritable, but the mutations/anomalies will still happen, so people will have them.