this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] Typhoon@lemmy.ca 199 points 3 months ago (6 children)

This is one of many reasons the perfect eye argument by creationists is utter bullshit.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 161 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ugh that drives me crazy. The human eye is a perfect example of observable evolution. Organisms exist with every stage of eye development, from a photosensitive spot to a more advanced convergent evolution of our eye. And the human eye is poorly designed for it's current use, resulting in a significant percentage of people requiring corrective lenses.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 75 points 3 months ago (4 children)

most of the dipshit "the eye is to perfect to have evolved" people also have cheap optics on their rifles. something to think about

[–] yumpsuit@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You’re just jealous of GWOT surplus carry handle mounted AR optics because they remind you how evolution didn’t grace you with eyestalks 🐌

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 months ago

I wish i had eye stalks.

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 71 points 3 months ago

It's a good example of evolving towards a local maximum then being unable to travel through a valley to a more optimal design. As such it confirms exactly what evolutionary theory would predict, and not what "intelligent design by an omniscient creator" would predict.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 81 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Clearly this means God’s chosen are the cephalopods.

[–] pennomi@lemmy.world 49 points 3 months ago (1 children)

🧑‍🚀🔫🐙 Always have been.

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

🧑‍🚀🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🐙

Always have been.

[–] violetsoftness@piefed.blahaj.zone 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

😮🫘🫘🫘

Always have beans.

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[–] deus@lemmy.world 31 points 3 months ago (2 children)

In the lore of Lord of the Rings, it is said that the supreme being of that universe personally created both men and elves and since men were his favorite creations, he gave them the gift of... having pretty short lives (wow, thanks). Well, octopuses have a much shorter lifespan than us, so if our universe's creator is anything like the Middle Earth's then there's a good chance they are his favorites.

[–] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It's been a while, so correct me if I'm wrong; but isn't the gift moving on to something else after a mortal life? If I recall correctly, elves are stuck in the physical world forever. Even when they die don't they just go to some limnal place for a while then come back?

[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Essentially, yeah.

Elves’ spirits either linger in Middle Earth or go to the Halls of Mandos in Aman. After some period of time, they can be re-embodied if they choose.

The souls of men did not linger, they were called to the Halls of Mandos upon death. Their souls would stay for a while in Mandos, separate from the elves, until they departed the Halls to only Eru knows where.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 months ago

until they departed the Halls to only Eru knows where.

Isekai followup when?

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[–] TomArrr@lemmy.world 29 points 3 months ago

As someone with chronic back pain, eyes are the least of my issues with creationists theories

[–] dave@feddit.uk 12 points 3 months ago

Yeah, my eyes are so perfect, I read that as 'cartoonists' and spent a good few minutes confused.

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[–] canihasaccount@lemmy.world 93 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This arrangement actually optimizes color vision in the daytime and night vision at night. Evolution selected for the correct arrangement for those of us living on land:

https://theconversation.com/look-your-eyes-are-wired-backwards-heres-why-38319

[–] bigpEE@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

This is just saying that the glial cells help make this less bad than it could be, no? Nothing about why neurons behind receptors would be worse

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[–] diverging@piefed.social 76 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (12 children)

Because of this we have blind spots, one for each eye. They are not usually noticeable because 1) the blind spot of one eye can usually be seen by the other, and 2) the brain fills in the gap.

So with this I will perform a magic trick, I will make your thumb disappear: Close your left eye and with your right look at a spot in the background, make a thumbs up gesture and place the tip of your thumb on that spot, move your thumb to the the right continuing to look at the spot in the background, when your thumb moves about 15 cm your thumb should disappear.

You can use your left eye too, just switch the directions.

[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 40 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It's way too late at night for all those directions, somehow ended up creating my own blind spot by sticking my thumb in my bum.

[–] diverging@piefed.social 17 points 3 months ago

Well, I guess your thumb disappeared.

I can try another way the blind spot is about 15 cm at arms length to the right of the right eyes center of vision. So put your thumb there and it should disappear

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[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

the brain fills in the gap

To expand on this, current leading theory (predictive processing) says that brain first generates a visual image then confirms it with inputs and if there's no input to confirm/deny the halucination it's just accepted as is. So we can have a whole load of blind spots in all of our sensors and continue functioning rather well with an ocassional artifact.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

I think about this at night when my eyes are forced to attempt to make sense of the low light levels in a dark room. I know my room isn't grainy and grey-scale - that's just the best my eyes and brain can do at night. It's interesting to look around and try to imagine the proper colors and shapes of things, reckoning the difference between what I know and what I see in the moment.

With our brains constantly making things up to explain gaps in information, it's no wonder kids think they see "monsters" in the dark. It's also no wonder that nightlights work well to keep said "monsters" away.

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[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 55 points 3 months ago (1 children)

More mindflayer propaganda.

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[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 49 points 3 months ago

✅ Discount number of limbs

✅ Cheaply made eyeballs

✅ Held together with a bunch of inflexible bones

Wait, am I just an off-band octopus?

Damn.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 39 points 3 months ago (5 children)

I wonder if that afforded some level of protection to the surface dwellers' receptors when in direct contact with high levels of sunlight.

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[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 33 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I am biology illiterate. Explanation please.

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 32 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Cephalopod precursors evolved eyes and then brains developed from the eye so their eye is structured correctly.

Vertebrate precursors evolved the brian first and the eye evolved out the brain as a sensory stub. So it's upside down and inside out like in picture.

The nerve cluster goes through the back of the eye splits and folds back to end in light receptors. Light hase to go through the nerves before hitting the sensor.

There is even a reflective layer after the sensors that gives the sensors a second chance at picking up the light. This is what causes the red eye or green eye you sometimes see in flash photography.

It would require a genetic rebuild to fix this and the intermediate steps evolution usually use would be so disadvantageous they are selected against. So the right combo of mutations to give us a working octopus eye is VERY unlikely to happen.

[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Hypothetically, if we managed to make a genetically modified human with the eye that you are talking about, what advantages/disadvantages would it have over our current eyes?

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

No blind spot and probably better light sensitivity. But it's not like we really need higher light sensitivity as land-dwellers.

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[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Hypothetically, what would be the advantages of "correcting" this evolutionary mistake in humans?

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

Bragging rights

[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 12 points 3 months ago

I believe no blind spot, which is the place where all the nerves bundle together and pass through the sensing layer, leaving a hole in our vision (the brain works hard to hide this hole from our perception, but it’s still there and can cause accidents) Also maybe better vision in general?

[–] Hugin@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

No blind spot and better light detection. The light having to pass through the nerves causes a lot to be lost.

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[–] CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago

Octopuses don't have a dead spot in the eyes I guess

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 19 points 3 months ago

Scallops, oysters, mussels and clams have anywhere between 40 and 200 eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollusc_eye

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

convergently evolved eyes, cephalod pod eyes evolved very differently from tetrapods. cephalpod eyes evolved by forming an invagination of those tissues. whereas the tetrapods evolved as extensions of thier brain.

plus cephalopods eyes are more like a camera, the lens move back and forth, instead of changing shapes. they do have exceptions which allows them to simulate eyes of tetrapods. they also possess the ability to regenerate thier eyes too.

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[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Shit just evolves. It doesn't evolve correctly or incorrectly.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

Evolution likes local maxima. Getting out of them is difficult. That's what the OOP meant with "evolution was powerless to correct it".

Getting out of local maxima means you first have to go with a worse setup until you get to a new, better local maxima. That's why evolution doesn't really do that all that often and instead prefers small optimizations.

(I use "like" and "prefer" not to say that evolution has goals or emotions, but to say that that's what the "algorithm" of evolution leads to.)

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_eye

(At a glance, this article needs some touching up and hasn't been meaningfully contributed to in some years.)

[–] Rachelhazideas@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

Quick way to find your blindspot:

  1. Close your right eye

  2. Hold your phone/monitor 1ft (30cm) away from your face

  3. Look at the 'x' below with your left eye

  4. Slowly bring your phone towards you (or your face towards the monitor) until the '.' disappears

    .                                                                           x
    
[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 11 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Your username says you're an owl, but you're suspiciously squid shaped

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (2 children)
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[–] NounsAndWords@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

I've said it for years, as soon as it's commercially available I'm getting photoreceptors realignment surgery.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is the meme that set off Cylon Number Three (aka John Cavil) and eventually lead to the attack on the 12 colonies.

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