Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty

http://www.ted.com TED collaborates with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton's provocative theory on beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with deep evolutionary origins.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Science & Technology

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• Denis
• Dutton
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• theory
• of
• beauty
• art
• music
• evolution
• biology
• darwin
• mind
• brain

[ladyrender]

I am surprised at how few appreciate this guy...good thoughts to ponder... the "Black Face" someone took exception to  is a take off on Al Jolson's film "The Jazz Singer" and is used when he touches on the topic of Jazz...once again in the comments people picking at his words and carping and being cynical wise-asses rather than simply trying to hear what he is saying!

[lancer4224130]

Someone get him a glass of water. his mouth is so dry.

[ChibiVampie]

oh my, i wish this man was my grandfather.... story time would be so AWESOME!

[Zaptruder]

The video is interesting... but it explains the importance of beauty from an evolutionary viewpoint... but it only grazes on *what* beauty is. A shame given that Denis Dutton has passed away, leaving us to ponder deeper understanding on the issue.

Consider though that genes can only encode so much information - the specifics of what we find beautiful can't really be genetically transmitted - so it relies on persistent features in our environment that is able to interact with genes.

[angelxluffx]

extremely well done!

[jackhsu1009]

did the guy drawing broke his hand?

[dtedfontenot]

@skyforcee The man had cancer. He died later in the year.

[nessx007]

@Petrolianzoolbar A thesis on beauty? That sounds very intriguing! Glad I could be of assistance, I've always enjoyed reading, writing, and debating such topics. If you happen to remember, could you message me when you complete the project? I'd be interested in reading it.

[OrganicKing]

@Petrolianzoolbar yes evolution has determined what beautiful and UGLY are!

[Petrolianzoolbar]

@OrganicKing Whaaat? Did you even watch the video? That sentence doesn't even make sense.. Are you okay?

[Petrolianzoolbar]

@nessx007 Hehe, thanks for this. I was writing my thesis, found Denis Duttons book, panicked because there seemed to be overlap, watched this video and then read your comment and realized I was writing my thesis on the subject you just mentioned in your post, and there was enough difference to hold it up..

[AntonioRepiso]

why the need for the blackberry advert at the end? kinda ruined a great video.