Red Queen hypothesis

The Red Queen Hypothesis comes from the book "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll, where the Red Queen says to Alice, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

This idea, the Red Queen Hypothesis, suggests that in order for an animal (including humans) to stay in the same place, it has to constantly keep up with changes that are happening in its environment. For example, imagine there is a race between you and a friend. If you run just fast enough to stay in place, eventually your friend will catch up to you if they run faster. So to stay ahead, you have to keep running faster and faster.

The same idea applies to animals and humans in the natural world. As conditions change, species must adapt and change in order to stay ahead of the game. If a species fails to adapt and change, it will eventually become extinct.