In Scientific Discourse
One of the most well-known and widely cited papers in biology is "The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme". It is based on an analogy between the beautifully decorated spandrels spaced around the domes in the Basilica, which sit on four arches (technically, the structures are pendentives rather than spandrels), and various biological traits and features. The authors, Stephen J. Gould and Richard C. Lewontin, argue that the spandrels are the inevitable spaces that exist when a dome is placed above arches rather than design elements and that many biological traits are similarly the side effects of functional traits rather than adaptive traits in themselves.
Read more about this topic: St Mark's Basilica
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