Session #1: From the Ashes (60,529 views)

"Crows are more evolutionarily advanced than Australian red-backed spiders, as crows have learned to work together to fend off threats increasing survival rates. Whereas male Australian red-backed spiders prefer to die in sexual cannibalism than to survive and work together."

Crows and Australian red-backed spiders are archenemies. It has been so since the beginning of time, and it will be so forevermore.

I'm grading the ecology & evolution midterms and that was one of my favorite answers. I'd frame it if I could.

The actual question just asks whether or not crows are more evolutionarily advanced than australian red-backed spiders (an animal the students had to read a paper about a couple weeks ago as a first foray into sexual selection). The correct answer I'm looking for is no, and something to the effect of, 'evolution isn't a hierarchy and isn't purpose driven', or 'all species are adapted to their specific environments' blah blah blah. 

What I've been getting is everything but that. The wrong answers that say crows are more advanced aren't the most interesting. That is the mistake you'd expect someone to make since one is a bird and the other is a bug. But at least 50% of the wrong answers argue that aussie red-backed spiders are more advanced than crows specifically because of sexual cannibalism. They say things like, "crows can communicate and use tools and have a social structure, but evolution is about producing more offspring, and male red-backed spiders increase their paternity via sexual cannibalism" and honestly those answers are the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever read.

It's funnier because I can see where the misconception is? Like, they've absorbed that the measure of 'fitness' is having more offspring, but they've totally and completely misapplied the concept to hilarious effect.

I also enjoy the ones that say crows are more advanced because "crows live all over the world and in cities, but spiders have never left Australia". 

If spiders were truly advanced, they'd grow wings and fly across the ocean. Fuckin spiders.

Here ya go Flanders.



Some questions were like "yeah okay whatever" and others were like "okay I can see this meaning multiple things cause it's too vague/broad." Page 2 especially was odd because it asks you to respond basically as if the world is exactly how you want it to be, in which case what's the real point of your potential answers. E.g. "there should be less government" okay but if I'm imagining I'm already in a society that has less/no government and that's what I want then wouldn't I give no answer or disagree here?

asunaya.github.io/Sapplycompass/results.html

I don't know how to share a picture of my results like you guys did :/

But I got:
Your X-score is: -4.2

Your Y-score is: 1.3

Your Progressive score is: 11.5