What is domain specificity and why is it necessary?
Domain specificity is an important property of physiological adaptations, and is presumed to be an important property of psychological adaptations as well. Domain specificity means that adaptations evolve to solve problems in particular domains, and therefore are less well suited to solve problems in other domains. A domain is a selection pressure or (equivalently) a reproductive problem. It is a physical transformation that, completed successfully, would facilitate the reproduction of the organism (or, more properly, genes coding for phenotypic traits that effect the transformation). Examples of domains include oxygenating blood, killing harmful bacteria, focusing light, extracting nutrients from food, filtering or neutralizing toxins, regenerating damaged tissue, etc. In other words, any of the myriad physical processes necessary for reproduction. In order to be successful, reproduction requires that a vast number of physical transformations complete efficiently and effectively. Adap
