Evolution, religion, and ignorance.

[Rampant.A.I.]

Partial parts on any creature serve no useful purpose. Obviously these strange additions are there in some of plant life. You can't make an argument for creative additions to a creature before their implementation can have a positive effect. Excuse me, I have a new tree limb trying to grow out of my back right now!

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Any extra part of any creature that is attached has to have full and complete use immediately. Partial parts have no function, and usually disappear in the next generation. A complete addition requires the mutation to be fully functional which takes trillions of connections to be made throughout the integrity of the creature. Remember, that part has to grow, heal, reproduce, function with nerves or other contacts, and provide for some useful function for the benefit of the animal or that creature can not even use the additional part. This is not a simple game of just sticking on extra parts to see if it might work. Those trillions of connections have to be perfect, all at once, the first time or the part won't work. That's your catch! Besides, take a close look at all of the animals in nature. most do not show anything extra, dangling off for some future experimental use.

The "flopping around useless" part, if it can even be called that, only happens when a species is losing the need for limbs or other appendages.

As in whales: