Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe

by Brian Greene

But if we don’t invoke an innate sensitivity to beauty, how do we explain the lavish bodily adornments, creative displays, and physical constructions that are integral to myriad mating games playing out in the animal kingdom? Well, there is a less lofty approach. Consider again the peacock’s tail. While we humans may appreciate the aesthetics of a peacock’s plumage, to a peahen it may arouse an instinctual response of considerable genetic importance. Peacocks adorned with dazzling plumage are strong and healthy, increasing the likelihood that they will sire hardy offspring. And since peahens, much as the females in most species, can produce far fewer progeny compared to their male counterparts, they have developed an especially strong preference for fit males; such unions enhance the success rate of each resource-consuming and hence precious fertilization.11 With rich plumage being a visible demonstration of a potential mate’s strength and vigor, peahens attracted to such tails are more likely to spawn robust peachicks. These peachicks, in turn, will on average be endowed with the very genes for desiring and acquiring resplendent plumage, facilitating the spread of such traits through future generations. Beauty, in this analysis of sexual selection, is a good deal more than skin-deep. Beauty amounts to publicly available credentials attesting to a potential mate’s adaptive fitness.