Born to dance? The evolutionary origins of music making - Dr Jacques Launay
We've teamed up with skeptics groups around the UK to hold live events online whilst we can't meet in the pub!
Live event link: https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
What's the point in making music? Is there a point? Although music surrounds us for a large proportion of our time it doesn't seem to serve any obvious purpose, and this talk will explore that problem. Darwin suggested music could be involved in sexual selection, used to flaunt genetic fitness to potential partners, but there are also several alternative explanations, ranging from Pinker's null hypothesis (it's auditory cheesecake) to the Mozart Effect (music makes you clever). Spoiler alert - those theories are probably both wrong! This talk will primarily explore the role of music in social bonding, and whether music is best understood as the alternative to language.
Dr Jacques Launay is an expert in music and social bonding and has worked on this from a range of perspectives, including the origins of music-making, the health benefits of singing in choirs, and the neuroscience of moving to sounds.
About Skeptics in the Pub - Online We are a coalition of UK-based Skeptics groups. Formed as the Covid-19 epidemic brought our country to a standstill, we are working to deliver high-quality online events focussing on Science, reason, and critical thinking.
New to Skeptics in the Pub or Twitch or both? We anticipate that Twitch or SitP may be new for some of you so we will have early doors at 6:45 to welcome new attendees and answer any questions you may have.
A useful guide to Twitch here: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-twitch-4143337
You don't need a Twitch account to watch the talk only if you want to take part in the chat.
You won't need an account to ask questions in the Q&A though.
More details on accessibility, inclusion and safety here: https://sitp.online/online-safety
Safety & Comfort
We aim to be an inclusive organisation, welcoming attendees from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders. The directors reserve the right to remove any attendee whose continued presence represents a real or perceived threat to the smooth running of our events, or the security and comfort of other attendees. Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.