What evolutionary reason do we have to like art,music, etc.

[Dungeon Crawler]

I really like art and music, but when you get down to it, it kinda seems like a waste of time. Why do people to do these things?

[Zekiran]

How is it in any way a waste of time if you - or anyone really - enjoys it?

Our brains are huge, we have opposable thumbs, and leisure time. Because we can communicate over time and distance with art and stories, and because we can preserve our information instead of having to memorize it, those things are part and parcel of being actually human.

A piece of music can bring someone to their feet in a rousing cheer, or agitated in a rally, or to their knees in grief, or laugh in amusement. A simple stick figure can convey frustration, joy, arrogance.

We are symbol users. This is how we have evolved.

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Xerxes the fire breather původně napsal:

What evolutionary reason do we have to like art,music, etc.

Xerxes the fire breather původně napsal:

I really like art and music, but when you get down to it, it kinda seems like a waste of time. Why do people to do these things?

Most of it is just for entertainment - but some of it is precautionary tales that can be used to help us avoid certain futures that would be... bad. ...very bad.

A properly crafted game can actually be far more educational than most in-class lessons. Intentionally educational games don't typically meet this bar / expectation but then... they go about it all wrong by favoring making education interactive rather than making an actually fun game... that is educational. There's a significant difference between these two approaches.



Artistic media can actually be very useful, educational, & more - but... it can also be used to just stroke people's egos, which is probably why we've seen so much samey cookie-cutter stuff throughout the ages (not just in gaming, this even goes back to the time of classical music & such).

This is a great way to explore new ideas but people in power & to some degree, the public that follow them, generally only want things that are "the right / normal way" & "the way we've always done things" & "just how it's done". So... a lot less exploration of ideas actually ends up happening.


For a more definitive answer, feel free to spend your entire lifetime studying the field of Psychology, with an art emphasis.

[Masque]

I don't want to imagine the un-evolved world we would inhabit, had Salvador Dali never painted clocks melting over tree branches in the Spanish desert.

[Dungeon Crawler]

Fred Durst původně napsal:

Just imagine if Andy Warhol would have never painted that can of Campbell's soup, where we would be as a species. No doubt, we would still be a bunch of savages dancing naked around a campfire, and not just on Friday nights! ALL THE DAMN TIME DAMMIT!

That's sounds really fun, last time i did that i got kicked out of the party.

[Masque]

Oh, my goodness, Fred. I'm not really that fond of country either, outside of Bluegrass or country-adjacent music like Emmylou Harris or Bonnie Raitt, or older stuff from Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash, but...

You really haven't seen, or hung out with, the women at country music concerts, have you?

That's a sad shame. I, on the other hand, have seen the herd who go to Cardi B shows, and although I really detest that music, the women who appreciate her music do actually make it worse.

[Amuro0079]

Xerxes the fire breather původně napsal:

I really like art and music, but when you get down to it, it kinda seems like a waste of time. Why do people to do these things?

Emotion is the culprit for liking such things.

[White Knight]

Ok, OP, be honest... did you find this on "intelligentquestionstoaskoninternetforums .com"?

I mean, the question is awesome! Of course there must be an evolutionary advantage, otherwise we couldn't have so many creative people around.

Here's a thought: If creative individuals are more interesting to be around, then perhaps this leads to increased opportunities to procreate? Has there ever been a shortage of painters, sculptors, dancers, etc. anywhere... ever?

[Tiberius]

Idk. Why do you play games? Why do you use that profile pic? Why do you want to live if you're gon die in the end and nobody is gon remember you and your work 200years from now?

Why?

[Azza ☠]

Art is a rich person's tax evasion scheme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw5kme5Q_Yo

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Parrhesiastes původně napsal:

Ok, OP, be honest... did you find this on "intelligentquestionstoaskoninternetforums .com"?

I mean, the question is awesome! Of course there must be an evolutionary advantage, otherwise we couldn't have so many creative people around.

Here's a thought: If creative individuals are more interesting to be around, then perhaps this leads to increased opportunities to procreate? Has there ever been a shortage of painters, sculptors, dancers, etc. anywhere... ever?

Engineers.

[White Knight]

Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at původně napsal:

Engineers.


:seewhatyoudid:

Not sure what that means but I would argue that engineering can be every bit as artistic as architecture.

In my town, engineering students once suspended a volkswagon between two bridges... if that ain't art...

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Xerxes the fire breather původně napsal:

What evolutionary reason do we have to like art,music, etc.

Parrhesiastes původně napsal:

Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at původně napsal:

Engineers.

Not sure what that means but I would argue that engineering can be every bit as artistic as architecture.

In my town, engineering students once suspended a volkswagon between two bridges... if that ain't art...

Yes. Engineering requires creativity, which is what you were going over / describing.
That's not directly artistic but it can be.

...whether it is or isn't, though, your other point was about creative individuals potentially leading to more opportunities to procreate & this is true to the point that... creative individuals have probably led to THE MOST opportunities to procreate. ...because of engineers.



There's nearly 8 billion people in the world and yet we can feed nearly all of them (there's enough for everyone there's just distribution problems).

Our food comes from lands that are farmed with advanced machines that were built... by engineers.
It goes to factories (sometimes) to be sterilized and processed into other things we eat.

Other factories produce medications, & coats, & blankets, and other things that help us survive in the elements.
These factories that mass-produce essential supplies for billions of people were built ...by engineers.

Many people die in big earthquakes but much less so today because of properly reinforced buildings that were built... by engineers.
Many people die in floods - The Netherlands, is below sea level and near the sea... but have barriers on the ocean that keep the water out and they were built... by engineers.



You need to have a creative mindset to arrange machines in ways that they have never been arranged before, whether just for entertainment, ...or to do useful things that keep billions of people alive (numbers that were, at one point, unimaginable & unsustainable).

& of course, the more supplies we can produce to feed & shelter people... the more people can be born & actually NOT DIE in this world, of starvation or nature.

It's not just about creative individuals being interesting to be around. The creativity of engineers has made human-life & being the dominant species, possible - on an enormous scale that was once unimaginable (& for some people still is unimaginable).

[White Knight]

Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at původně napsal:

...

Oh crap... I was thinking, "were you off playing a game or something", but you were writing an essay? I suppose it would be rude of me not to read it... rats.

You know, this is interfering with my whiskey drinking?

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Parrhesiastes původně napsal:

Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at původně napsal:

...

Oh crap... I was thinking, "were you off playing a game or something", but you were writing an essay? I suppose it would be rude of me not to read it... rats.

You know, this is interfering with my whiskey drinking?

Lol, that only took me about 20 minutes to write. I actually was off getting some food & water & also dealing with financial stress that I don't know the answer to because I lack supplies, opportunities, and am maybe not enough of an engineer...

[shoopy]

Social bonding from a distance.