Gary Marcus' Presentation

When you enter the ‘L’ you see a number of individuals with headphones on listening to music, some at a decent volume level while other’s not so much. I am one of those who will sit on the train and listen away to songs after songs, and doesn't think much of it. However, Gary Marcus’ idea of music as social glue was something I was intrigued by because I never thought of music in that sense. Yes, I have learned in other classes that many species use songs to attract mates, and this explains that aspect of sexual selection. However, the fact that we use music as a means of socialization was something I had never connected. Since, he made that connection, I have realized that when we are out and about socializing at a night club per say we tend to dance to the music which leads many others to join in sometimes. Also, many times individuals will get together and play instruments together which can be seen as a way to socialize. In addition, when we listen to possibly a love song that makes us feel good and we feel loved because the song made us feel in such a way. The talk definitely gave me another perspective on how I see music and what I see its purpose as. Another interesting aspect of Marcus’ talk was evolutionary inertia, which he defined as the evolution that evolves in one direction will continue to evolve in that direction. I have been through many classes that have presented the material on evolution is many different perspectives, but the way Marcus presented actually clicked. Evolution has small changes that may occur over time, but very rarely do the dramatic changes occur that would change everything. Language is evolving slowly but it is definitely evolving, this was another aspect I had not given much thought to. In my mind, language is nothing more than a communication tool, and to see that it has such different connections to evolution and music definitely enhanced my knowledge. I think Marcus’ presentation was definitely thought provoking because I made connections that I would have not done before, and I learned a few new concepts.