Heh, the two debates are indeed quite related. There's a common joke among economists that goes: "Two economists are walking along the street when one spots a $100 bill lying on the ground. He says, 'Look, a $100 bill on the ground!' To which the other replies, 'Nonsense, if there was a $100 on the ground, someone would've picked it up already.'"

The joke is meant to highlight that economists sometimes take the notion of efficient markets too far, believing that the markets are so efficient there's never any room for easy gains (because if there was, someone would've done it). I think a similar notion can happen in evolutionary biology/sociology, where it's assumed that every possible development must have some evolutionary advantage