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Comment
. 2021 Sep 30:44:e113.
doi: 10.1017/S0140525X20001119.

Making music: Let's not be too quick to abandon the byproduct hypothesis

Steve Stewart-Williams  1
Affiliations
Comment

Making music: Let's not be too quick to abandon the byproduct hypothesis

Steve Stewart-Williams. Behav Brain Sci. .

Abstract

It is premature to conclude that music is an adaptation. Given the danger of overextending the adaptationist mode of explanation, the default position should be the byproduct hypothesis, and it should take very strong evidence to drag us into the adaptationist camp. As yet, the evidence isn't strong enough - and the proposed adaptationist explanations have a number of unresolved difficulties.

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  • Music as a coevolved system for social bonding.
    Savage PE, Loui P, Tarr B, Schachner A, Glowacki L, Mithen S, Fitch WT. Savage PE, et al. Behav Brain Sci. 2020 Aug 20;44:e59. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X20000333. Behav Brain Sci. 2020. PMID: 32814608