r/interestingasfuck • u/Significant_Snow_718 • 29d ago

/r/all Chick with genetic defect

Post image
74.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

4.1k

u/Ill-Agent7195 29d ago

Defect? You mean 4x4 upgrade?

354

u/Grueaux 29d ago edited 28d ago

Honestly I use the word "defect" less and less these days because I think it's more accurate to refer to these as natural variations. "Defect" assumes things are supposed to be a certain way, but biology doesn't have any direction, it just keeps exploring what is possible in every which way it can, and natural selection filters out some variations. Some variations really are upgrades.

Edit: I'm not saying all variations are helpful! Most aren't.

1

u/One_Telephone_5798 28d ago

Look at its hind legs. They don't look fully functional at all. This is a defect.

1

u/Grueaux 28d ago

Again, I will say, "defect" assumes nature/biology is trying to accomplish something. But even when it appears to be accomplishing survival and reproduction, it's not necessarily trying to do that. It's just biology biologying.

It's not even "survival of the fittest" -- it's really just "survival of whatever actually survives".

1

u/One_Telephone_5798 28d ago

No, that's your personal assumption. The dictionary definition of defect is a "shortcoming".

Non-functional hind legs that also render the chick's digestive system unusable is absolutely a "shortcoming".

A mutation that does not allow the organism to survive is a defect. You're the only one in this conversation attaching an agenda to the word.