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On 03/08/2020 12:17, John K Clark mentioned:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.23.1596453426.1399.extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org"><font
size="4">.. the near universal appeal of music ...<br>
</font></blockquote>
<br>
This is a question that has puzzled me sorely for a long, long time.<br>
<br>
Why are we the only animals that seem to have a sense of rhythm?
Many animals make noises of various kinds, sometimes even rhythmic
sounds, but you never see a group of animals getting into a groove
the way humans do.<br>
<br>
I've never seen a dog tapping its paw or nodding along to a piece of
music, and even birds that seem to be doing this are oddities (and I
suspect they're not really doing this at all, but just mimicking
humans), and on their own. There's no other species that has a
musical sense, that I know about. The odd thing is, I can't see any
advantage that it confers, and even if it is a spandrel, as John
suggests, what other advantageous trait could it be a result of? I
can't think of anything. So where did it come from? Even other
primates don't seem to have anything approaching it. Are there any
documented instances of a bunch of chimps banging sticks on trees in
a coordinated (and infectious) way, for instance? Anything like
that? Even co-ordinated dancing? I've not heard of any.<br>
<br>
Any ideas?<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
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