Misc. questions on the biological history of eyesight problems.
May 28, 2004 4:29 AM   Subscribe  posted by Keyser Soze to
Science & Nature (30 answers total) 1 user marked this as a
favorite Oddly enough, relaxing on the couch with a good book
wasn't very high on the priorities list for homo erectus.
Basicly, getting eyes that are guaranteed not to get fucked up
during body formation would cost more resources than its worth.
Unless your eyesight is really bad, your hunting/gathering
skills should still be within a few percent of those of someone
with average vision.  Of course, there might be an eye design
that is much better but not resource-expensive, but evolution
hasn't found it yet.  Evolution takes an infinite amount of time
to find the optimal creature for a certain environment, or
possibly even that isn't enough. But that's more of a
mathematical issue. posted by fvw at 4:45 AM on May 28, 2004
FVW's argument is the one I've heard. Nearsightedness is an
offshoot of the very necessary ability of your