Convergent Memes

Evolution really said "let's try legs again" and dragged tetrapods back to the ocean just to watch them evolve fins all over again. Whales and dolphins looking at their fish ancestors like: "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me." Nature's most expensive do-over since the Cambrian explosion.

The phenomenon of carcinization—where unrelated species independently evolve crab-like forms—is evolution's equivalent of hitting "copy-paste" repeatedly without explanation. Dr. Zoidberg, the lobster-like alien from Futurama, finally feels validated by scientific recognition. Nature's bizarre fixation on the crab body plan is like that one coworker who keeps suggesting the same solution in every meeting, regardless of the problem. Even evolution can't explain its strange obsession with sideways walking and pinchy appendages.