Mint, peppers, and caffeine, the holy trinity of "plant defenses that did not work on humans."
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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On the other hand, being useful to humans have made them some of the most widespread and successful plant species on the planet.
Being useful to humans is the single most important factor in evolutionary success rates.
Sure, there's 8 billion of us, but we collectively KILL ~~30 billion~~ 70. 70 goddamn billion chickens every year, and there's always more of those fuckers. We kill more than double the number of chickens every year than are ever currently even alive. That's how many chickens there are.
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Grass: is useless
Humans: "Growing a nutritionally useless plant demonstrates that Im so wealthy I can afford to waste arable land"
Grass: is now one of the dominant species on earth
We made grains from grass. If you let most grasses get tall enough to seed, they look like green wheat.
Also I'm not certain, but wheat and corn may give grass a run for their money in acreage cover, if you count the wheat and corn as a single species, but count each specific grass separately.
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Lol pls.
That's the r-rated version.
The true trinity is nicotine, cocaine and opiates.
And also,
"Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely yang solution to a peculiar problem which they faced."
— Terence McKenna
Yang?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yang
the masculine active principle in nature that in Chinese cosmology is exhibited in light, heat, or dryness and that combines with yin to produce all that comes to be
It distorts the connotation, but it wouldn't be too far off to use, say, "macho" instead. It just feels weird to apply such words to plants.
Particularly peppers lol.
Ah, mild pain! The perfect addition to my diet.
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Cilantro: best I can do is 20%.
Hallucinogens, nicotine, caffeine, all evolved for plant defense and all of them are used recreationally.
Also, don´t forget THC
THC is a heat shock defence. The fact it has such an effect on us is purely coincidental.
Yes, that is one of the possible explanations for trichomes. However, In literature there are several potential reasons for cannabis producing THC listed, some of them are:
-deterring certain insect and other herbivores -Anti-microbial effects -UV light protection
Claiming that heat shock defense is the only reason seems like a simplification, considering that scientists are still researching the matter.
It used to also be insect deterrent but since we've bred cannabis to have so much lovely THC that the globules are too large and dry to work. But that's ok because cannabis has domesticated humans enough that we've invented climate controlled hothouses to grow them in.
And Willow, tobacco... You could also count things like Digitalis, which are rather toxic but usefull medications.
Counterpoint; those plants are now cultivated in huge numbers, thus ensuring the successful and continued propogation of their genetic legacies.
From an evolutionary perspective, those defences worked too well.
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"Can you make me spicy as fuck so no creatures want to eat me?"
"OK bruv flawless plan."
Still a good joke as we're mammals, but peppers's spice is so that birds, and not mammals, eat their seeds and poop them out far away as birds aren't bothered by capsaicin.
lending purpose to an evolutionary trait is a mistake. It is possibly that mechanism by which they attained some degree of success, but evolution doesn't 'think' unless youre into predeterminism like that.
Totally. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be, the successful result of the adaptation was that birds spread their seeds instead of mammals. Until us.
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Also humans: Imma smoke you too
And it would have worked flawlessly if it weren't for humans, the single most metal species to have ever graced this planet, that likes to subject itself to mild and moderate suffering for amusement and recreational purposes.
In fact, humans started cultivating mint and chili, hence it worked
There are billions of cows, chickens, etc. in the world. Purely by numbers, those species are incredibly successful. Yet, If not for humans finding them tasty and easy to manage, we would not have bred them to this degree and they wouldn't have reached this degree of success. Somehow, against all odds, being tasty/something we want to eat has somehow become an incredibly valuable and successful adaptation.
Evolution is absolutely wild, and this really drives home the fact that evolution isn't about the individual's likelihood of survival, but their likelihood of reproduction.
Depends on how you define success. If you look purely at population numbers, yes. However, if you look at how they live in industrial animal mass production facilities, no.
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Well, now it has. But uhhh, rest in pieces to all those species that were tasty ,but too much of a hassle
Didnt work so well for the mammoth and Aurochs. I guess you have to be a manageable size.
A highly adaptative strategy. The plan failed very successfully.
"But little did nature know that man loves to SUFFER"
What's this now?
You got some explaining to do!
Shhhh. It's ok. You have fresh breath now.
I swear I’ve seen this image before but without the laugh track at the bottom, and the bottom-left panel only had the top line. Brevity is etc etc
The Life Cycle of Memes. I'm sourcing some of these from the bottom of the troth.
I'm sourcing some of these from the bottom of the troth.
9gag?
Worse.
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why does it feel like i can breath better while chewing very minty gum? i mean i assume it's just an illusion but i've always wondered
Menthol increases your mouth's sensitivity to coldness. The air you breathe in is generally cooler than your mouth, so the air moving by as you breathe is much more noticeable.
Oh cool, that's interesting! Thanks!
That also explains why drinking cold water almost hurts after having a mint lol
It may be some or other thing with your nose. For instance runny nose after eating spicy food is a known atypical reaction and happens a lot with people with deformed nose wall
affecting 80% of people
I didn't know that a runny nose from spicy food wasn't a typical reaction! Neat! I'm not surprised that my nasal wall is likely deformed like the rest of me hahaha. Thanks for the interesting information!
By doing this they have effectively secured their survival. We will never stop growing them.
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MOUTH COOL!
MOUTH COOL!
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