How Would Pokémon Truly Evolve?
The Evolution of Fictional Organisms — Pt. 2
Alright. You know the deal. What countless Pokémon games, movies, and anime episodes call “evolution” doesn’t resemble evolution by natural selection in the slightest. Rather than inheriting helpful adaptations perfected over many generations, individual pokémon “evolve” by changing their physical traits almost instantly. Ignoring the terrifying implications of pokémon sucking up enough mass to change into their larger forms in a matter of seconds — Game Theory already covered that in-depth —what’s really going on when pokémon “evolve?” And what does actual Darwinian evolution have to do with it?
This is a continuation of my series on the evolution of fictional organisms. I’ll be using the concept of the fitness landscape and local optima outlined in the video below to assess the feasibility of everyone’s favorite pocket monsters evolving in real life.
For a quick explanation of what I’m talking about, you can read the first three paragraphs of my last post on dragon evolution. I’d also recommend looking…
