re: #243 b_sharp

Don’t fall into the trap of believing evolution is all about preserving only the beneficial.

I’m not. Trust me. I’m being brief.

There are far too many complexities to how a species evolves to assume a trait only needs to be beneficial to be retained.

That was my point— we didn’t ‘evolve to tolerate’ alcohol.

On a strictly selection basis, which is just part of the mechanism of evolution, a beneficial trait is most likely to be retained when the cost/benefit ratio is < 1. The ability to drink milk has a very low cost, it is just a delay in the triggering of a regulatory sequence and the benefit can be substantial. That isn’t true of alcohol.

LIke I said, I find it probably the enzyme evolved for another function. We do tolerate heroin, despite LostLakeHiker’s claims; if we didn’t, it’d kill us.

His statement made no sense on any level.