Using Jonas as a narrative thread to walk through millions of years makes the evolutionary timeline feel less abstract. The insight that eye evolution is really about the evolution of visually guided behavior reframes the whole question away from anatomical perfection toward functional advantage. What I found compelling is the fossil evidence showing sophisticated eyes at the start of the Cambrian explosion rather than as a late refinement, suggesting vision itself may have accelerated the evolutionary arms race. The fact that flatworms still use Class II directional sensing becuase it perfectly solves their shelter-finding problem shows evolution optimizes for sufficiency not complexity.
Thank you! That was exactly my intention using the Jonas narrative. I am glad it worked. The insight that eye evolution is really about the evolution of visually guided behaviour is Dr Nilsson’s. But I think this framing is a good way to illustrate how evolution really works, and what fittest means in “evolution of the fittest”, which is often misinterpreted.
Using Jonas as a narrative thread to walk through millions of years makes the evolutionary timeline feel less abstract. The insight that eye evolution is really about the evolution of visually guided behavior reframes the whole question away from anatomical perfection toward functional advantage. What I found compelling is the fossil evidence showing sophisticated eyes at the start of the Cambrian explosion rather than as a late refinement, suggesting vision itself may have accelerated the evolutionary arms race. The fact that flatworms still use Class II directional sensing becuase it perfectly solves their shelter-finding problem shows evolution optimizes for sufficiency not complexity.
Thank you! That was exactly my intention using the Jonas narrative. I am glad it worked. The insight that eye evolution is really about the evolution of visually guided behaviour is Dr Nilsson’s. But I think this framing is a good way to illustrate how evolution really works, and what fittest means in “evolution of the fittest”, which is often misinterpreted.