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EmperorGeek t1_irpbbva wrote

It doesn’t always. Take your Wisdom Teeth for example. Most human mouths don’t have room for all the teeth we used to have.

Over time, if there is a selection bias where people who have wisdom teeth don’t breed as often, they will eventually disappear, but other than that, there is no selection bias for people without wisdom teeth, so they will continue to be an issue some of us.

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kittenTakeover t1_irrf47p wrote

There is a selection bias against neutral traits. It's called opportunity cost since maintaining the trait typically requires forgoing other possible mutations, that could be beneficial. For this reason traits that lose their usefulness tend to disappear over time.

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NewBromance t1_irpp0nw wrote

Does this mean wisdom teeth where being selected against until we got technologically advanced enough to be able to remove teeth? Is that why some people don't have any trouble with wisdom teeth at all or even come through.

I've always sort of wondered because somehow all 4 of my wisdom teeth came through fine with no problems.

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