[contingencies]

Heterochronic shifts in a timing‑keeping microRNA are associated with multiple instances of neoteny in plants, Aaron R. Leichty and R. Scott Poethig, PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2510697122

Key quote: "permanent juvenility has evolved multiple times", nominally making neotony a more highly evolved and expressly desirable characteristic as voted by life itself.

Now we can say certainly, at least in ancient Australia (if you're a plant): growing up is for losers!