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Comment by logicallee | Hacker News Reader

>essentially guaranteed any sentient biological

The evolutionary pressure toward radar or at least sonar is pretty fucking big too (huge benefit) so where's mine?

You have eyes + aren't active while finding food/avoiding predators in an environment with limited visibility & great sound conduction.

alright, what about nocturnal animals with huge sensitive eyes ? or why not evolve searchlights or even lasers ?

If you are a predator and carry a search light, chances are your prey will learn what your search light means. If you are prey, would you think it is a good idea to advertise "there's something to eat over here"?

  > searchlights or even lasers

Think about the return on investment on these: how much energy to grow and power vs. the improved food gathering. Also: would this make the creatures easier to find by predators?

Galagos developed large eyes rather than sonar, true. I refer you to my other comment:

  > Perhaps eyes convey a general advantage, regardless of how you find food?

I think we can all agree that my point is made, and it's easy to imagine sentient extraterrestrials without photoreceptors.

Most people get a lot of information from their environment from passive sonar...how "echoey" a room is, for example. People can take this ability much further. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0aihGWB8U

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