As ingenious as it is, natural selection cannot account for everything we find in nature. Darwin’s evolutionary theory had some gaping holes in it, caused by elaborate traits like the stag’s antlers or the peacock’s tail. Such extravagances offer no benefit to the general process of being, and could even be considered a hindrance to everyday life. As such they could not have been sculpted by the utilitarian force of natural selection. Darwin recognized this, and for a long time it tortured him. He realized there must be another evolutionary mechanism at play, with a very different agenda.
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