Frozen Evolution. Or, that’s not the way it is, Mr. Darwin. A Farewell to Selfish Gene.

Biological evolution is basically an opportunist process that cannot predict, in advance, the future effects that a certain change will bring in time. As a consequence, organisms can sometimes end up in a sort of evolutionary trap; structures or patterns of behaviour can emerge and prevail in them that are very detrimental for their carriers and the species. The evolutionary trap mechanism is also sometimes considered to be a possible cause of the present-day predominance of  sexually reproducing species.