What benefit is an eye unless there is also the capability of processing and using the information? How would both evolve simultaneously?
A photosensitive patch of cells could be wired directly to motor cells/muscles on the opposite side, which would allow the organism to swim toward the light (maybe useful for feeding or migrating, etc.)
Speculation 1. The bicameral mind was created as a result.<p>Speculation 2. The earliest creatures with two eyes may have been conjoined twins -- which were more successful in life than their single-celled/bodied siblings.
Gift link:<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/science/evolution-vertebrate-eye.html?unlocked_article_code=1.OVA.Hdoe.X4H61oGgvbWs&smid=url-share" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/science/evolution-vertebr...</a>
Don't we have single celled organisms with more than one 'eye' now?<p>We've been able to sense light and shadow even before we became multicellular, didn't we? And this article seems to be implying rather otherwise.