Anyone who has paid close attention in biology class cannot help but think of the natural scientist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, who was born almost exactly 278 years ago, when he sees a giraffe (or chiraffe, the text should also be read in Austria). For everyone else: He was considered the founder of a theory of evolution called Lamarckism, according to which acquired characteristics are passed on to offspring. A classic example is the giraffe, whose ancestors always reached for the best and highest branches in such a way that the respective offspring always had a bit longer necks than the parents. Since Charles Darwin, however, this has been considered refuted, but more modern approaches such as epigenetics want to have rehabilitated the old Lamarck a bit – a random observation from downtown Ebersberg seems to prove them right.
On a combined bike and footpath, a cyclist comes towards you, so far, so usual. Except that she stares at the ground so consistently that she almost hits a pedestrian who is walking very close to the bike lane but is otherwise difficult to overlook. A few meters further on, you are almost run over by a scooter yourself – the driver has more eyes for the ground than for the road in front of her and those who may be on it. On the sidewalk next to it, you then have to avoid a pedestrian who is walking stubbornly straight ahead – he too is apparently only interested in what is directly in front of him on the ground.
Surprised by this accumulation of people staring at the ground, Lamarck’s giraffe comes to mind – after you’ve briefly convinced yourself that Ebersberg’s masters and mistresses still use the practical plastic bags. Because: Wouldn’t it be possible that all the staring at the ground is a result of looking down, which is indispensable for the use of mobile digital devices? Which also stops when such a device is not in use? Because it has now become the natural posture, maybe even inherited? And so maybe the next stage of evolution is: After fins come legs, first four, then two and after the upright walk, the one with a bowed head. After all, Lamarck’s giraffe always wanted to go higher.