Very interesting to read the viewpoints in this thread. Until now, I‘ve always seen the way this currently works as an issue which would eventually be fixed. I saw being able to set up good conditions for your next generation as a sort of exploit, not as a feature, because in its literal sense it seems illogical to be able to set up the exact information a generation 5 mio years down the line would inherit.
But, as with the number of cells in the multicellular stage, it makes much more sense when seen from a less literal standpoint. If your species tends to reproduce under certain kinds of external conditions, then this continuity makes sense, even if it feels a bit strange that the setup is literally the exact same as it was before when you leave the editor.