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[Frumple]

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more surprised I am to not see more highly intelligent creatures on par with ourselves. Intelligence seems evolutionarily inevitable.

I mean... is it, though? For all our vaunted capabilities we're playing second fiddle to all sorts of other things, all of them incredibly dumb in comparison. Evolution wise, it's pretty clear developing like we have isn't a winning strategy -- it's better than most other large organisms, on some level (at least until it reaches the point too-successful species occasionally do and self-extincts), but just utter and complete dogshit compared to stuff like ants or various microfauna.

Bigguns just have this delusion we're impressive 'cause we're big, really. Humans are somewhat special in being smart enough to notice that while still being too dumb to internalize it :V

Anyway, always remember one of the least intuitive things about evolution: Lots of shit persists and develops incidentally. All sorts of things putter along or get fancy just 'cause it's piggybacking on something actually beneficial from a reproductive standpoint. It's a regular occurrence where the answer to "why was this selected for and developed" is "it wasn't, it's just associated with something else that was, and hasn't caused enough of a problem to effect fitness". Genetics are really goddamn messy and they laugh in the face of sensible progression metrics. Laughs super friggin' hard.

[Great Order]

3. Selection pressures do incentivise a poisonous plant to look distinct, but also incentivises edible plants to look like distinct poisonous plants, making them both indistinct over the course of evolution

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

And, for funsies since it's related, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCllerian_mimicry

[Great Order]

After eating I get these lumps at the retromolar trigone. I can squeeze them gently and they'll go, so I assume some duct or something's clogging with food but does anyone have any clue *what* is clogging? I'm just curious, given it's been going on for over a decade and I've yet to keel over or have my jaw fall off I doubt it's an actual health concern.

I thought it might be a salivary duct at first, but apparently none of them come out there.

[Loud Whispers]

3. Selection pressures do incentivise a poisonous plant to look distinct, but also incentivises edible plants to look like distinct poisonous plants, making them both indistinct over the course of evolution

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

And, for funsies since it's related, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCllerian_mimicry

Do you think you could have dungeon mimics, and then things that mimic dungeon mimics but are actually harmless

After eating I get these lumps at the retromolar trigone. I can squeeze them gently and they'll go, so I assume some duct or something's clogging with food but does anyone have any clue *what* is clogging? I'm just curious, given it's been going on for over a decade and I've yet to keel over or have my jaw fall off I doubt it's an actual health concern.

I thought it might be a salivary duct at first, but apparently none of them come out there.

Lumps? Like just normal swelling?

[Great Order]

Not really, it's almost balloon-like. As I said, I thought they were clogged salivary ducts and it was pressure building up behind them and I could unclog them with a gentle squeeze.

Whatever comes out is flavourless too, so it's not like they're full of pus or something.

[Loud Whispers]

Not really, it's almost balloon-like. As I said, I thought they were clogged salivary ducts and it was pressure building up behind them and I could unclog them with a gentle squeeze.

Whatever comes out is flavourless too, so it's not like they're full of pus or something.

Weird. Maybe get it checked out by ENT doctor or a dentist just in case. It'll be good to know if it's benign or something you can fix

[EuchreJack]

3. Selection pressures do incentivise a poisonous plant to look distinct, but also incentivises edible plants to look like distinct poisonous plants, making them both indistinct over the course of evolution

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

And, for funsies since it's related, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCllerian_mimicry

Do you think you could have dungeon mimics, and then things that mimic dungeon mimics but are actually harmless

Hm, is THAT why treasure chest grow naturally in dungeon?  They're mimic-ing the dungeon mimics!

[Frumple]

The biggest problem with that supposition is... well, shown by basically any soulslike, just as an easy example among myriad. When mimics exist, the first instinct of everyone that would encounter mimics is "stab every treasure chest you find to see if it screams". Mimicking something a great many very dangerous things attack on sight makes very, very little sense.

... unless they're erupting in spores or something on being attacked, I guess. Sometimes the prey wants to be eaten.

[Loud Whispers]

The biggest problem with that supposition is... well, shown by basically any soulslike, just as an easy example among myriad. When mimics exist, the first instinct of everyone that would encounter mimics is "stab every treasure chest you find to see if it screams". Mimicking something a great many very dangerous things attack on sight makes very, very little sense.

... unless they're erupting in spores or something on being attacked, I guess. Sometimes the prey wants to be eaten.

Two possible explanations:

1. The mimic mimics mimic mimics in order to avoid being preyed upon by dungeon critters. Adventurers are an invasive species so they are just not well-adapted to adventurers
2. Adventurers are actually the pollinators of mimic mimics, spreading their pollen to other dungeons & caves
3. Mimics are so freaking hardcore that no one wants to intentionally fuck with them. Just like in dark souls where even if you know it's a mimic and get the first strike in, it can still eat you, because it is still lethal in a 1vs1. I can beat a bee in a fight, still don't want to get stung