Where is the teleology?

 

Synapsids born to rule? 

Previously posted on April 11, 2023. Reposted here a propos a recent ironic post about "non-avian" dinosaurs... 

Synapsids were the dominant land animals during the Permian, only to be replaced by the sauropsids during the Mesozoic. Then, after an unfortunate meteorite impact, synapsids became dominant again.

Humans are synapsids. So are all other mammals (of course) and various groups considered ancestral to mammals, or closely related to them. Reptiles and birds are sauropsids.

In other words, synapsids and sauropsids have alternated as the dominant land animals for the past 300 million years or so. 

So where is the teleology? Asking for a friend named Ashtar Command.