How do plants know that they will be eaten and therefore their seeds will be spread and regrow?

Question

Like how does fruit know to be sweet to persuade us to eat it and shit the seeds somewhere else? How do chilies know that only birds are immune to spice of capsaicin so that they will eat it and take the seeds further when they fly somewhere else? Did they plan this or was it an accident?

In: 2

Answer 1

Accident.

You’re projecting intention onto what is an evolutionary process, which is a sequence of adaptations adopted over time, without intention behind it, i.e., by accident (i.e., because a thing *happened* to have a trait that helped it survive and reproduce).