this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

I have zero issues with spiders living in my home, they just have to stay out of my sight.

If they evolve to be better at hiding, it's a win win.

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 5 points 21 hours ago

My house spiders are cool. They eat the flies etc and I fish them out of the way before I have a shower. The only disagreement we have is over their little lair in the kitchen. There's a tiny hole in the skirting board in one corner, and cobwebs gather there. Now and then I brush away the webs and plaster over the hole. A week later the hole is back and the webs too.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

In our house the rule is spiders can stay if they're out the way (up high, etc). When they get too close for comfort for my wife's tolerance limits, I pick them up and put them outside. Spiders are friends.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 8 points 1 day ago

That almost rhymed, how about:

In our house the spiders can stay
If they're out of the way.
If they get too close,
Then it's time to vamo(o)se

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Spiderbro does an important job eating the more annoying bugs.

[–] Arctic_monkey@leminal.space 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The reclusiveness selection argument makes sense, but why intelligence? Brains are crazy metabolically expensive, and I can't see why a smart reclusive spider would survive humans any better than a merely reclusive one.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 21 hours ago

Probably thought that you need to be smart to hide well, which is not at all how it works for most animals but IS how it works for humans.

[–] Liz@midwest.social 1 points 23 hours ago

It wouldn't. They just added that in there for the scaries and they probably didn't think it through much.

[–] chefdano3@lemmy.zip 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Am I missing something here? Why is everyone talking about spiders

[–] BunScientist@lemmy.zip 1 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

open it in the original instance

[–] FryHyde@lemmy.zip 1 points 20 hours ago
[–] chefdano3@lemmy.zip 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It's the same no matter where I open it.

[–] BunScientist@lemmy.zip 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

this works for me https://piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone/posts/Kj/vc/KjvcmUDWH6TS0E5.jpg

either way it's a showerthought about humans being the natural selection for spiders, killing only the ones that come out, effectively selecting them for higher reclusion and intelligence (sorry, on phone so writing the exact text is a hassle)

[–] chefdano3@lemmy.zip 1 points 20 hours ago

Ah that one works, thank you. Every time I selected to view the original post or the direct link, it wasn't that one. Maybe I'll try poking around to see if I can find an option that gives me that link.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

As long as the spiders don't break our agreement they can stay. They eat the bugs and pests, and they can live in the corners of my house. As soon as they come to the floor they're dead.

[–] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I have the same thoughts about hitting squirrels with my car.

Not that I do it on purpose or feel good about It, but I tell myself that at least the survivors will pass on their survivor traits to the next generation.

[–] Lightfire228@pawb.social 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You'd think we'd have accidentally bred smarter deer by now

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Deer kill more americans than any other animal. If anything they're becoming more top heavy and more lethal to make drivers hesitate before hitting them. Eventually evolution will make them explode and send a cloud of shrapnel out when struck by a car.

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Evolution will eventually turn all deer into adorable looking mooses with nokia cell phone exoskeletons.

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 1 points 23 hours ago

Hehe, that was an unintentional Nokia reference on my side.

[–] VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I always knew I was right to scoop them up and put them outside. My wife just murders them outright.

[–] lucg@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I think this every time I kill a mosquito or fruit fly but they don't seem to be getting any faster, smarter, or quieter. Where's Darwin when you need him to answer some questions?

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

There's just so many that the relative few getting killed by swatting aren't having an impact on their genetics.

[–] Liz@midwest.social 3 points 23 hours ago

Also we've been doing it for millennia. The evolutionary pressure is already there. These are just the ones with the random mutations that make them slow enough to slap.

It's like asking why gazzel aren't fast enough to outrun a lion.

[–] stiffyGlitch@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

yeah I accidently killed my pet invisible spider :( his name was bob

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't kill spiders. They are my unpaid exterminators.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

They accept payment in flies.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

They can have all of them they can catch. I'll even toss any I catch into their webs.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Got bit on my left leg last week by a brown recluse I didn't see. Garage is probably full of them

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

We are also making serial killers smarter.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago

I only kill spiders without opposable thumbs

[–] texture@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

this isnt true tho. we kill loads of them without seeing them.

i like the idea tho

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I eat seven spiders every hour

[–] texture@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

wow, you must be jacked

[–] dddontshoot@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Any flies that fly into my house are given a chance to leave. If I can herd them out the window, they get to live and make lots of new baby flies.

On the other hand, their chances of getting a close up view of the fly swatter increase exponentially with every minute they spend refusing to leave and ignoring the fact that I'm literally showing them the exit.

[–] sparkles@piefed.zip 47 points 2 days ago (7 children)

I’ve gotten brave in my old age. I only relocate them if they become extremely inconvenient …like my doorway spider (sorry frank). I ignore house spiders entirely as they transit my house. Good luck, leggy friend.

I have a pretty orb weaver on the porch (or I did last summer). Hope I get another.

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[–] bebabalula@feddit.dk 60 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Birds also only eat spiders they see. Not sure how that’s any different

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You're forgetting all the spiders that crawl into the bird's mouth while it's sleeping.

[–] edible_funk@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

Nah that's just spiders beord throwing off the averages.

[–] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 45 points 2 days ago (5 children)

well...birds aren't real.....soooo...

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[–] eupraxia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is why you shouldn't kill rattlesnakes. If we kill the rattlesnakes that make themselves known, over time they adapt to not rattle before striking.

[–] Dicska@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

So they will be just called snakes.

[–] jpablo68@infosec.pub 24 points 2 days ago

That's why I only kill the roaches that venture into my house, if I see a roach in the street I leave it alone to thrive that way all future offspring will be selected for street only living.

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