Texto IV

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK – We hear music everywhere – in shopping malls, concert halls, carpools and cathedrals. Even when there is none playing, we often hear it inside our heads. Because music occupies so much of our lives, could it have played an important role in the development of the species?

Some scientists have recently proposed that music may have been an evolutionary adaptation, like upright walking or spoken language, that arose early in human history and helped the species survive.

“Of course it’s utter speculation,” said David Huron, a professor of music at Ohio State University in Columbus. Most experts still assume music was a cultural invention, like cave painting or writing that humans invented to make their lives easier or more pleasant.

Yet Huron and many of his colleagues wonder if music might have biological roots. The “music gene” would have arisen tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago, and conferred an evolutionary advantage on those who possessed it. Natural selection would have nurtured the gift of music, favoring those who possessed it with more offspring who were themselves more likely to reproduce.

 

(http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld, access on Sep. 24, 2004)

Responda em português.

Há outros cientistas que pensam diferente.

a) De forma concisa, indique a outra hipótese apresentada.

b) A que duas habilidades a música é comparada, segundo essa outra hipótese?