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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker 30 Sep 2017

    Puzzle: Why do *we* find it beautiful? Not so we can mate w the fittest puffer! Or peacocks, butterflies, flowers?https://youtu.be/p1PID91sEW8 

    7:57 AM - 30 Sep 2017
    • 33 Retweets
    • 75 Likes
    • huan wang A .T. Nong Ward Melendez DrSmartThong Jan Guskjolen Leslie Spencer Conservative Vegan Moshe Hoffman Bjørn Sætrevik
    16 replies 33 retweets 75 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. dusty miller‏ @dustyish 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Why Steven why? I been a bit obsessed with this for years. Do *we* share an aesthetic at some sort of atomic level? Any further reading rec?

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. angel‏ @fluttermoth 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @dustyish @sapinker

        Me too! Also, nearly all animals thought ugly come from deep sea/caves or are blind, so they can't see each other. Wish I knew the answer!

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. Julian Dutton‏ @JulianDutton1 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Because it's life & sex, and indeed the origin of human art. All human art is the mating game.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Billy Braden‏ @bbraden98 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @YouTube

        speak for yourself, I wanna fornicate the Crab Nebula

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. New conversation
      2. S. H.‏ @Neozoen_ 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        appreciating aesthetics and symmetry isn't the same as triggering sexual excitement and attraction. That's what the fish wants to achieve.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. S. H.‏ @Neozoen_ 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @Neozoen_ @sapinker

        Sexual selection can produce extremely ugly and asymmetric things as well. Fiddler crabs or Giraffe weevil are good examples.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. 1 more reply
      1. Bennett Kaplan‏ @bennett_kaplan 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        It is joyfulness rather than beauty we are experiencing; we connect to that which is complete as completeness creates an atmosphere of joy.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. monki‏ @homosapienswhat 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Pinker is one demographic away from writing for @DiscoveryCSC

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Bob Monsen‏ @romons 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        We are symmetric because we like symmetry, and sexual selection did the rest. Why do we like it? Are there animals that don't?

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Miroslav Hundak‏ @FenringH 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Why indeed. Another striking example by amazing Richard Feynman "Ode to a flower":https://vimeo.com/55874553 

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. ParadoX‏ @UnC0mm0nGr0und 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        And thus Jesus spoke: "If thus a fly of butter mightst grow such purtty wings over here, there's prolly enough chips&dip for all 13 of us."

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Krème de la Krèmlin‏ @ztarasj 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        lol to all the dweebs here who think there's an evolutionary explanation for beauty, of all things.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Daemon Todd‏ @daemontodd 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Best guess... it was adaptive to have a positive association with order & patterns, probably for a mix of sexual selection and... 1/

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Daemon Todd‏ @daemontodd 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @daemontodd @sapinker

        ... the impetus to improve our environment. To create this evolution co-opted existing machinery for identifying physical attractiveness. 2/

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Daemon Todd‏ @daemontodd 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @daemontodd @sapinker

        When refined by someone who actually works in the field, this idea might generate testable predictions. E.g. perhaps neural locus of ... 3/

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. Daemon Todd‏ @daemontodd 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @daemontodd @sapinker

        artistic / patterned aesthetics (if there is one) is adjacent to identifiers of facial symmetry and moral reasoning. 4/

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      6. Daemon Todd‏ @daemontodd 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @daemontodd @sapinker

        OTOH there are so many analogues to order & chaos / aesthetics & disgust that the corresponding structures may be continuously distributed.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. OxoBorax‏ @MrHuman334 30 Sep 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        None of these things are objectively beautiful. All of these things are subjective. Ornithophobiacs don't think peacocks are pretty.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. FictionalReality‏ @bbselamanya 1 Oct 2017
        Replying to @MrHuman334 @sapinker

        Not necessarily. Ornithophobiacs can still think they are pretty and be irrationally afraid of them.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. FictionalReality‏ @bbselamanya 1 Oct 2017
        Replying to @bbselamanya @MrHuman334 @sapinker

        Also, they are the exceptions. The majority of people think that peacocks are beautiful.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. End of conversation

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