Matthew Bizer’s Reviews > The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature > Status Update

“You talk a lot about 'evolution' in The World in Six Songs, but maybe it would be more accurate to talk about humans as the products of devolution, of a relentless pursuit of perfection in stupidity and arrogance. Even religion today has lost its ability to pull us out—now it's all warrior gods. My song 'Strong in the Wrong' is a direct attack on these subversions of religion.” - Joni Mitchell

“Sorrow does have a physiological purpose and it may be an adaptive response, which is to help us conserve energy and reorient our priorities for the future after a traumatic event.“

“The optimist thinks a brewing conflict might be solved by diplomacy. The pessimist thinks fighting is inevitable, and that may bring about his own destruction. Our brains evolved the responses to joyful music making that they did because joy can be a reliable indicator of a person's mental and physical health.”

“We create because we cannot stop ourselves from doing so. Because our brains were made that way. Because evolution and natural selection favored those brains that had a creative impulse, one that could be turned toward the service of finding shelter or food when others were unable to find it; toward enticing mates to procreate and care for children amid competition for mates.“