Re:Plants can grow quickly or accurately, but not both
by op03 on Saturday November 14, 2020 @07:18PM
(#25096910)
I don't know if athletes fit. They spend their whole day in training to stay accurate.
And thanks for the cool kudzu article!
Re:Plants can grow quickly or accurately, but not both
by ineedasername on Saturday November 14, 2020 @11:05PM
(#25098165)
They spend their whole day in training to stay accurate
That's what I mean-- for some, there's a way to overcome the speed-accuracy trade-off with extreme effort.
And yeah, kudzu is crazy. I remember seeing it in the south (US) when I had family there as a kid and thinking "wow, that place must have been abandoned like 50 years ago". Then I found out about kudzu not long ago & was amazed.
Re:Plants can grow quickly or accurately, but not both
by eusebius on Saturday November 14, 2020 @11:37PM
(#25098290)
Kudzu is certainly incredible, but other invasive species in the southeast US (where I live ) are nearly as impressive. Wisteria comes to mind; it's not as obvious until it's in bloom. Other honorable mentions: Chinese privet, Asian Bittersweet, elaeagnus, and English Ivy. All of the aforementioned grow in my yard and their aggressive growth is unbelievable (especially elaeagnus... It's a shrub that can climb like a vine!).
And interesting edge-case where that isn't true are professional athletes.
Maybe in the plant world the equivalent would be kudzu [0]. It has the speed thing down without issue, and as for accuracy... well, you grow like it does, you're hitting every target. It's about as close to a sci-fi gray goo scenario as we get, or the monster movie "The Blob", and one of the the prescribed methods of dealing with it is actually "kill it with fire!"
[0] https://www.appalachiabare.com/when-stephen-king-turned-into...