Darkness he/him Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) On 1/04/2017 at 6:52 AM, Figberts said: Speaking of Darwin, does the cosmere even have evolution? I can't see why it wouldn't, but we have seen long times pass with no wildlife change. I cant think of a mutation case off the top of my head, maybe Terrismen are a case for this? but we've definitely seen widespread genetic changes through interracial mixing in the population on Scadrial, and selective breeding (horses, Aimian cremlings) on Roshar. So I can't think of why evolution wouldn't occur. Edited April 3, 2017 by Darkness spelling
happyman he/him Posted April 3, 2017 Posted April 3, 2017 It turns out that evolution has been referenced in the books. When Sazed is busy remaking the world during his Ascension, he talks about how he had to rebuild human genetics. The direct quote is: From the Canzi teachings about the body, Sazed determined that the physiology of mankind had changed-either by the Lord Ruler's intention or by simple evolution-to adapt to breathing ash and eating brown plants. This doesn't say whether evolution actually happened in the Cosmere or not, but it strongly suggests that the concept was known and understood to the Keepers. It seems very likely that a Shard, even an inexperienced Shard like Sazed, would be able to figure it out the details pretty quickly, seeing how they can see and understand DNA almost instantly. As far as I know, this is the most canonical evidence that we have about evolution in the Cosmere, and it's pretty unambiguously in favor of the idea, even if the time-spans we experience the Cosmere on are too short to see it happen in practice.
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