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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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Just Post
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If anything, it's not the pronouns but the agency that is assigned by using terms like "think" and "decide". Unfortunately it is very convenient to speak in those terms, just like it's convenient to say "evolution gave giraffes long necks".
Evolution did give giraffe long necks.
It's more problematic, yet useful, to say that an animal adopted a strategy.
And it's just problematic to think that giraffes planned to reach leaves that were too high by growing their necks. It's simply not how evolution works. Instead, giraffes that could reach higher leaves were selected for (the others tended to die more before leaving offspring).
Evolution cannot give anyone anything because evolution is not an entity capable of giving, it's a process that happens, without a consciousness deciding anything. That's the point I'm trying to make.
Oh I see. I didn't realize how even "give" somewhat anthropomorphizes it.
I DEFINITELY wasn't denying evolution if that's what you thought :D
I didn't think that. I just saw nothing wrong with saying that evolution gave giraffes a long neck. So, I thought that some clarifying was needed. I didn't get at the time how it made evolution seem conscious.