[jennyp]

It is much, much harder to show, from a natural selection and survival of the fittest approach, that a species would be expected to develop such an elaborate system of sounds (music) and means to produce them - or that a species would devote so much of its time and energy to that pursuit. Music, as an example, does not fit well (or so it seems to many, including me) into evolutionary theory.

First off, I'm trying to understand why music should be selectively harmful! But there are plenty of things we do a lot, like purely recreational sex for instance, that probably are marginally detrimental (risky) in an immediate sense, so I can't throw your question out immediately...

Maybe it's the long-term risk of having such a powerful and generalized thinking machine inside our heads.

I'm no expert on the different theories on the development on the human brain, but here's what I think happened: Our ancestors' big brains proved very helpful in surviving in their environment, and our appreciation for things like music & art & humor & junk food are all side-effects of that big-brain capability. Similarly, civilization and the moral codes that make it possible have been very beneficial to humanity, yet there are those who fret that our compassion for the sick will eventually hurt the gene pool as a whole. If we assume this is true, its harmful effects (in a population genetics sense) haven't outweighed the positive benefits of the civilization that generated it ... yet.

Here's another example: Until the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the most prosperous societies didn't necessarily have smaller family sizes than the poorer countries, because they were all agricultural societies and more children meant more loyal farm hands. But today the prosperous societies (which tend to be more industrialized & capitalist) have far smaller families on average than the poorer peasant societies. In the long run the prosperous societies could theoretically go extinct. According to your question's logic this should never have been able to happen in the first place. Obviously the answer is that a long term negative consequence takes time to hurt the conditions that made it possible in the first place.

[yendu bwam]

A thoughtful response, Ms. JennyP. Thanks. It is strange that people would devote so much time and effort to music. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, and the beautiful music and drumming created by those in my village, and the time they spent on it, precluded them from spending limited and valuable time in the fields (which was absolutely necessary for survival). And I agree that music is possible because of our big brain ability - but what would have created our need for it? Now the idea that it might be a risk... That's very interesting! And of course, in today's world (where to some degree evolution has stopped working, because the non-fit survive in most cases), maybe the risk is gone. Again, thanks for your response.

[Gladwin]

Women throw themselves at rock stars. Then, people with musical ability should have more children than those without. Women may prefer musical ability because it is like a peacock's tail. Or, musical ability could imply health - mental and physical. (Although that seems less likely)