Evolutionarily speaking...
There are more people who buy into the idea of evolution than those who don't. I think it's a neat label for a lot of what is observed, a cool lens to view the world with, but there are some things I don't understand. The mechanisms, for one...okay, the opposable thumb is useful so it has evolved in humans, but HOW?? Who gave that particular order to the genes involved? The circularity, for another...so men are evolutionarily inclined to be attracted to women of a certain kind. Why? because those women tend to be fertile, and will bear the children for those men. So basically, this is a circular argument - we evolve certain attributes because they help us evolve?
What I REALLY don't get, is the usefulness, evolutionarily speaking, of some things. Music preference being one such thing. If you subscribe to the Bollywood school of thought, music is integral to the mate selection process. You roam the alleyways, woods (running round trees is a great catalyst), shopping malls hoping to hear the tune you're humming, sung back to you with a complete orchestra and about fifty dancers. If you do, you know you've found your partner to further the species with.
Jokes apart, what role does music have in our lives? I read a Readers Digest piece long ago called "Life's little extras" and the author had listed music, flowers, and other soppy stuff as not really being required, but as enriching our life. Well, cynical old me found a use for all those things (circle of life, if nothing else) except for music. Of course, music has therapeutic and calming, and sometimes cathartic effects, but stone age man didn't need Beethoven or Dave Mathews to calm him down or Kurt Cobain to express his angst. I don't know why and how music became such an integral part of human beings' existence. Anyone who has tried learning the theory behind Carnatic music, or tried reading orchestra music, or tried teaching a kindergarten class to sing in a co-ordinated chorus knows the crazy complex world that is music. I don't know a single person who doesn't like some kind of music. The question is never, "Do you like music?" It's always, "What kind of music do you like?"
I am not complaining, just curious...why do we need music? (Btw, here's a teaser - if anyone has read Isaac Asimov's "Jokester" they'll know what I'm worried about, as I ask this question! If you have read it, pleasssssse post a reply. If you haven't, pleassssssse read it!)
What I REALLY don't get, is the usefulness, evolutionarily speaking, of some things. Music preference being one such thing. If you subscribe to the Bollywood school of thought, music is integral to the mate selection process. You roam the alleyways, woods (running round trees is a great catalyst), shopping malls hoping to hear the tune you're humming, sung back to you with a complete orchestra and about fifty dancers. If you do, you know you've found your partner to further the species with.
Jokes apart, what role does music have in our lives? I read a Readers Digest piece long ago called "Life's little extras" and the author had listed music, flowers, and other soppy stuff as not really being required, but as enriching our life. Well, cynical old me found a use for all those things (circle of life, if nothing else) except for music. Of course, music has therapeutic and calming, and sometimes cathartic effects, but stone age man didn't need Beethoven or Dave Mathews to calm him down or Kurt Cobain to express his angst. I don't know why and how music became such an integral part of human beings' existence. Anyone who has tried learning the theory behind Carnatic music, or tried reading orchestra music, or tried teaching a kindergarten class to sing in a co-ordinated chorus knows the crazy complex world that is music. I don't know a single person who doesn't like some kind of music. The question is never, "Do you like music?" It's always, "What kind of music do you like?"
I am not complaining, just curious...why do we need music? (Btw, here's a teaser - if anyone has read Isaac Asimov's "Jokester" they'll know what I'm worried about, as I ask this question! If you have read it, pleasssssse post a reply. If you haven't, pleassssssse read it!)
posted by RTD2 at 9:05 PM
2 Comments:
you mean the one where all the jokes are being fed to humans by aliens? that's the one you mean?
music is fed to us by aliens to study huan responses, mob psychology? looking at some of the heavy metal movements, i have NO doubt that htis is so!
thanks for the post.i just saved your blog in bookmarked list.
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