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1.4
When Did Music Get Started?

1.4.1
The Origin of Music

Science shares with religion the claim that it answers deep questions about origins, the nature of life, and the cosmos. But there the resemblance ends. Scientific beliefs are supported by evidence, and they get results. Myths and faiths are not and do not.

—RICHARD DAWKINS, eminent British zoologist

Why is there something instead of nothing?

—HANS KUNG, eminent Swiss theologian

Empirical evidence indicates Darwinian evolution created in you and in all other humans an adaptation for music in the form of an integrated network of brain modules (neuronal circuits) that enable you to make music and respond emotionally to music.

According to certain religious doctrines, talk of Darwinian evolution amounts to nonsense or even blasphemy: God made man, and God bestows the gift of music as God sees fit. (Or, certain specific gods, depending upon the religion.)

Science has succeeded spectacularly in explaining nature and making factual information available for the creation of incredible technologies, from flying machines to nuclear weapons to life-saving medicines to guitars and pianos. Science keeps us atop the food chain and able to protect ourselves (most of the time) from the most lethal of natural non-human predators.

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