[cnity]

The upvotes are from other pedants who dislike the wording, I presume. It's entertaining, and I understand the argument, but I do wonder if such people also avoid sentences like "primates evolved opposable thumbs so that they could be more dextrous". This kind of language is clearly a proxy for an overly verbose articulation of the process of evolution over and over again. It's an approximation.

[WastingMyTime89]

> primates evolved opposable thumbs so that they could be more dextrous"

I for sure do. It’s extremely wrong. It implies the very incorrect idea that there is a purpose to evolution.

[cnity]

It's shorthand for "primates with a genetic mutation that resulted in opposable thumbs were more dextrous. Those primates proliferated due to natural selection". I guarantee that even evolutionary scientists do not talk like that over dinner and regularly reach for such shorthands.

[WastingMyTime89]

Don’t worry I know biologists do it. The field is plagued by a general lack of rigour and a strong bias towards finality.