[LINK] Using Twitter...

[Birch, Jim]

Stilgherrian wrote:
>The name Twitter is inspired, as it really is akin to bird call. But  
even a songbird's song is not "all show".

Bird songs are basically fitness displays.  The bird is demonstrating
that, by virtue of its superior genes, it can spend whole the day
foraging and still waste lots of time and energy carefully producing the
exact sounds that turn on members of the opposite sex in it's species.
"I'm hot!"  Sexual selection is largely driven by female mate choice
which is why males typically have the best songs and plumage.

According to recent sexual selection theory, this is likely the reason
why we developed our large biologically expensive brains, with their
otherwise biologically useless interest in things like music, art, chat,
ethics, and so on: stuff to say to potential partners, especially on
first dates.  Until I read Geoffrey Miller's The Mating Mind, I'd always
wondered why people prefer to collect interesting factoids rather than
verifiable knowledge. Recommended.

Jim


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