RAZD writes:
Consider that intelligence could be a side-effect of sexual selection for creativity in mating displays, dances and songs - and again compare the attractiveness of people to their apparent intelligence.
My psychology teacher (an avid evolutionary psychologist) also made this theory, and I find it very intriguing. When we students proposed the theory that we evolved intelligence because it helped us make tools, hunting strategies, etc., therefore increasing our chance of reproduction, he said this: "It doesn't take rocket scientists to make stone tools. We're rocket scientists."
AustinG writes:
This is a good thought; however it can lead to a chicken/egg argument. The opposite sex would first have to appreciate music before it would be beneficial as a mating ritual. You probably didn't mean it this, but I thought I would bring up the point.
That was the main problem I had with that theory, although it does make sense. You put it very eloquently, AustinG.
AustinG writes:
Does music appreciation have to be beneficial? It could be simply a nuetral trait that exists because nothing selected against it.
Wouldn't it have to have evolved for
some reason, though? Come from somewhere?
AustinG writes:
If you want to theorize that music appreciation is beneficial in some way, you must start primitive...lets say with simple sounds. Are there sounds that a hunter-gatherer would benifit by being attracted to? The call of a mammoth? The sound of a deer? The coo of fowl? The symphony of a free-flowing streem? I think its reasonable to say an attraction to these noises would be beneficial to early humans. This is all that is needed for music; once early humans were able to construct primitive instruments, they could replicate the sounds they heard in nature.
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for this, AustinG.