
Ep 35 Ch 14 "Why are Flowers Beautiful?"
ToKCast
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The Genetic Component of Behavior
No matter what the behavior is, it can always be explained by recourse to genes. In other words, there is no way of refuting it. It's not scientific. We pursue beauty as well as truth, and in both cases we can be fooled. Perhaps we see a face as beautiful because it really is, or perhaps it is only because of a combination of our genes and culture. A beetle is attracted to another beetle that you and I may see as hideous, but not if you're an entomologist. People can learn to see many things as beautiful or ugly. But there again, people can also learn to see false scientific theories as true, and true once as false.
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