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Article: The Eyes Don't Have It
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 7, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Q. Why do so many people have lousy vision? Why hasn't
evolution given us better eyesight?
A. Seems to us this whole evolution business has been pretty
much a waste of time - we've been mutating for millions of years and
we still need glasses.
The way evolution is supposed to work is like this: Two
hunter-gatherers go looking for some wild game. One guy has keen
vision, and he's able to discern which critter is the slowest afoot.
He dashes out of the bushes and gathers the animal in his customary
fashion (if we're not mistaken the usual technique in prehistoric
times was a swift, disabling bite to the throat).
But the other hunter-gatherer has lousy eyesight, and all he
sees is a ...