[igorkraw]

The first two points answer each other: within each niche, there will be exactly 1 dominant species or N species which are at a local nash equlibrium or some species in the process of dying out "hoping" that things change. But they are free to drift around in dimensions that doesn't hurt them in their niche and if they find a way to create a new niche for themselves, there is high pressure to exploit it because "hey, it's free real estate" i.e. they no longer have to compete in the niche they were previously locked into.

People don't get that evolution selects for one thing only: continuation of your branch of the process. No other measuring stick. Genes, cells, multicells etc. just exist and some are better at continuing to exist, and they do that by finding niches for themselves. Once everyone found one, they are all equally fit. But we still have cultural narratives of humans at the "pinnacle of evolution" as if there is a big (abrahamic...) judge in the sky ranking species linearly. So we struggle really appreciating the trippy "goal" of evolution