YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It)

Biological Parallel

Organisms that develop costly adaptations for hypothetical futures pay immediate fitness costs without guaranteed returns—peacock tails require 20% of daily energy budget for display features that only matter during mating season. YAGNI is metabolic parsimony: build only what current selection pressure demands, because unused features impose carrying costs. Irish elk evolved massive antlers for sexual selection; when environments changed, antler maintenance costs contributed to extinction. Premature optimization is evolutionary bet on a future that may never arrive.