"We find beauty in something done well." The whole essence of beauty here.

I love the use of illustration animation! I've seen some of Park's work before and this is my favorite so far! Helps really visualize the talk so much better!

I'm tearing up that such a beautiful mind left us so young. His work has inspired me and my art moving forward and I wish to have had an opportunity to share that with Prof Dutton

I especially liked the way he ended this speech.. Fantastically worded.

that was absolutely brilliant. possibly my favourite TEDtalk, even disregarding the imagery. nature vs. nurture is always fascinating.

I've always been drawn to virtuosity in music. Stunning performances that make my jaw drop, wondering, "How did they do that!?" But many people don't like that stuff. The punks, for instance, revolted against the technically challenging performances that came before them. All the sudden bands that could barely play music (the Ramones themselves confess that they only knew a couple of chords and just moved them around), were attracting listeners. It's a definite regression. It doesn't take virtuosity to play punk music, and yet many people are drawn much more to that than to complex, skilled performances.

You have got to watch this video, it will give you a new and good perspective of beauty of every kind..

simply beautiful - gets better every time I watch this. Thank you.

Darwinian Theory of beauty is explained beautifully in this talk. The illustration is simply awesome. Little bit academic in nature, but very meaningful study about our history, culture and most importantly evolution of our 'taste.' Highly recommended.

An interesting talk. Just one objection. If you ask a dozen different anthropologists and linguists when human language began, you'll get a dozen different answers. And since there are no fossilized H. erectus larynges for us to examine, it's far from an established fact that H. erectus didn't have language. Nevertheless, I agree that H. erectus would have had no problem making those hand axes without language. People learn better by being shown than by being told anyway.

This talk would be nothing outstanding without the illustrations. They're "beautifully" done!

Was fascinated by this video when it first came out a few years back but later had my mind blown after reading his book THE ART INSTINCT --- A must read for anyone who is liked this video and wants to explore this topic in more details.

I just found out about Denis Dutton's passing in December... another brilliant mind gone forever. His arguments form part of my master's thesis, which doesn't even come close to one 1/100th of the brilliance of his last book, The Art Instinct.

Some of the English subtitles are inaccurate! I use TED talks with my international students and always direct them to the sub-titles functionality as an opportunity to support their understanding of what they hear. I would be happy to correct the English sub-titles for this talk.

Other than humans, chimpanzees also have a sense of admiration. They can glance at the night sky and admire the stars. That also has a sense of beauty.

Great talk, great animations. Congrats! And thanks!

The animations are amazing! COngratulations to the artist!

It's always very interesting attempting to apply the scientific methodology to a subject as complicated, and tangled, as the mechanism of aesthetics. But I suppose that is the sheer purpose of the scientific philosophy, to make sense of the senseless, no matter how hard the subject.

Well done :) I find this beautiful

Finally an interesting TED talk again! One I can add to my favorites! @ all the critics: yes you are right, please make a TED talk about it :)

He died a month after this was published

After having coffee and really waking up I actually found lecture very interesting and informational

Brilliant, mind expanding stuff. Couple of questions spring to mind: 1. Why do we find some music beautiful? I would add to this point the question of the beauty of evocative language (i.e. lyrics/poetry) aswell. 2. For me the most awe-inspiring landscapes contain mountains/rocky terrain like cliff faces or gorges (himalayas etc...). Not too much insight required to guess it's to do with the availability of running water

This is such a beautiful TED talk!

Great talk. Discresionary selection based on social esthetics is at the heart of our most recent evolution. I am disappointed that he didn't extent his talk to include design invention and the industrial arts, but i suppose that it is implicit in his discussion. Loved the graphic accents.

very informative - i deffo can't wait to take the philosophy of aesthetics and criticism class in my uni soon! so interesting

Very nice presentation! The art and animation were great.

Andrew Park's illustrations are Great!

Andrew Park, you are an incredible artist.

extremely interesting points

Best TED talk ever.

Professional presentation, excellent!

Thus speech was beautiful!

I heard this compellation on beauty this morning... and had an Ahha moment.... hope you enjoy

Amazing talk!

beautiful presentation

Very interesting talk!

Even when we look at art what has been consider beautiful has changes through the ages. Look Leonardo’s renaissance art, Diego’s expressionist art, Picasso’s Cubism, or modern artist today. What person considers art and beautiful is very different than the others.

I love the illustration

great talk, and great whiteboard drawing skillz As a biology major and a science geek, I can understand the power of the idea of evolution and how things like this tend to support his theory. Its not concrete evidence though. So lets get more scientists to dig up more evidence for or against it

extremely well done!

This is the best stand up comedy I have ever seen! What a jokester.

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

Great video!

Beauty is in something well done, I agree. But this still leaves a question about how something is 'well done'. Is 'well done' universal? The Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic concept celebrates imperfections. I think it's paradoxical to say that imperfection is a sign of something well-done. Or is it not?

Well done, well done.

This needs 7 billion views.

Paul Dirac, and many other math minds, said that when they find beauty in their equations, they know they're on the right track to progress. And the converse is also true. When beauty is missing, the equation is likely wrong.

i love art

@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..

Whole heartedly agree

I like the illustration. I believe that art reflects culture. The appreciation of art it depends upon the conditioning of culture and taste of the evaluator.

I enjoyed this lecture...

good talk. would like to hear a bit more about his thoughts on photo-models. I have a feeling the beauty associated with them is more culturally related

How are these drawings performed and put in the video? Does anyone know?

It's tempting to say that when it comes to abstract art or other, let's say, 'niche' aesthetic pursuits, we are voicing our ability to transcend the limitations of existing creative frameworks. "I break the rules because I know of all the previous rules, I have created a new sense of beauty which is >abstracted from the previous one, and this makes me more interesting=attractive"

Darwin was also was terrified about the Peacock tale...because he could not explain it...Darwin wrote to ASA Gray in April of 1860, "I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all over, but I have got over this stage of the complaint, and now small trifling particulars of structure often make me feel uncomfortable. The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!"

Good one !

@starsoffyre : The beauty of music is explained in the book "The Singing Neanderthals" and basically fits right in with the thesis of this talk. The nebulae and other things probably fit in with Savanah landscapes. I think symmetry has been a selective trait for healthy offspring from the time of the first vertibrates.

That was absofuckinglutly amazing

talented artist!

@Dukems09 Excellent. In that case we can potentially have a stimulating discussion. I've looked through what posts of yours I can find, but I haven't been able to locate where you say what you propose as an alternative hypothesis. (Apologies if my inability to organise KZfaq comments into any sort of meaningful order is to blame!).

Denis Dutton beautifully explains the need to keep the Arts in school.

The whole lecture, especially the animation, is beautifully executed. How very appropriate.

great idea

ASDFHASDFGHJ Oh lord the smacking of his mouth pls i cant

While he was talking about how the hand axes did not have signs of use, and wear, it occurred to me that decorative and/or ritual weapons are some of the oldest ones that we know of. Their purpose was not to be a tool, but rather to be appreciated. I began seeing the hand-ax as similar to a forged Katana standing on display.

This was very interesting.

I completely agree with you.

1:00 "A Central California landscape!" Huge Redwood trees are everywhere. Yeah, it's beautiful ... that's why I live here!

As and artist I was surprised that in Dutton's hypothesis (and that is what I feel it is, albeit an interesting one) there was no mention of man's natural attraction to things in the proportion of Phi (or the Golden Ratio) which is exhibited in nature and the human body and self-consciously in man-made design and art. Prominently both the Greeks and Da Vinci employed it consciously in their work as have countless other artists instinctively before and after their time. unconsciously.

This video explains exactly why everyone loves our videos so much.

Genius! I really enjoyed it!

@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.

Intelligence, fine motor skills, planning ability, conscientousness, access to precious , materials --> time, above all.

This is the best evolution fan fiction I have ever witnessed.

I think beauty/beautiful is analogous to taste/delicious. In other words, something that is "beautiful" to the eye is like something that is "delicious" to the tongue. Is tasty and "delicious" strictly and scientifically defined? Or is "delicious" in the tongue of the eater? Well, if we talk about world dishes and different tastes, it is sooooooo diverse that there is no one taste of food that is liked by everyone in the world. Some people hate fish, some people love fish. Some people hate bloody organs, some people love organ meats. Some salivate at the sight of cockroaches, some vomit at the sight of cockroaches. Some eat lots of meat, some are vegans. The diversity of tastes is staggering! Yet, if you break down all foods into it's basic constituent parts: fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, you may find some universal commonalities, which are the following. Most people in the world eat all three parts and that's the universal "taste" law. But there is still humongous variation among the mixture of these parts and preferences for them. And beauty is very similar. If you break beauty into it's basic constituent parts: shape, angles, symmetry (these are all aspects of physical proportions), then you can see universal commonalities, which are the following. Most people in the world notice these three basic parts: shape, angles, symmetry. Indeed, in all kinds of diverse cultures throughout the world, all people tend to look more at: 1- familiar (mathematical average) shape, 2 - common angles, and 3 -some degree of symmetry, and that's the universal law of "beauty". But there is still a humongous variation of mixture of these parts and preferences for them.

I agree, it avoids to answer that some people have unique ideas of beauty. Some of beauty is "educational"; in other words, the beauty of the object is so profound/unique/bizarre that some people ignore it until they know what the piece is about. Also, some people love a beauty object; if we're "conditioned by our ancestors" to love something, explain the people who hate it!

beautiful spittle sounds as words mush amplified out.

Potentially strong explanation for convergence of cultural artefacts found in isolated civilisations, such as pyramidal geometry in South America, Mexico, Africa & east Asia, Artificial cranial deformation of Maya, Inca, Africans & some Scandinavian tribes. It also suggests why people may want to immigrate to Britain which boasts canvass-art dominated by mixed pastoral landscape created & promoted by aristocratic major land owners & which the British public frequently feel robbed by development.

@deadbirdflyinghome good point on the chinese foot binding tradition. I remember seeing a documentary about the first english man to enter china in the 1800's with a video camera, he had footage of women who had lotus feet walking. Interesting enough, their small feet forced them to walk slowly with a sway in their hips almost identical to the way women walk today in high heals.

"The sheer number of these hand axes shows that they can't have been made for butchering animals." This seems like a big, speculative leap to me. Why not? I would think many early hominids would have their own butchery tools - the same way most of us have a kitchen stocked with more than a dozen or so forks and knives.

it changed to adapt,even if it is silenced,try not to think,that is your role,perfect on you

At first, I was enjoying this video. Then I realized that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled diamond advert. C'mmon TED, step it up.

@AMP3G that is a pretty good example. some people like things the way they are. some people say that the reason the human race has been so prosperous is due to our adaptability to change. I think it is the conscious choice to change, or not to in this case.

You made my day with that =p To quote Sam Harris: All we can do is appeal to scientific values. If a person doesn't share those values, the conversation of over. We must appeal to the value of understanding the world, value of evidence, the value of logical consistency. If a person doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide that proves someone should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you invoke to show that they should value logic?

Music is the most powerful mover of emotions.

A Mohawk once said to me that his nation did not hunt the Wood Duck because it was so beautiful - "This one we eat only with our eyes" he said.

there are a lot of things people do that display incredible skill that i don't find beautiful; hot dog eaters, mma fighting are two things than come immediately to mind. on the other hand, skill isn't really displayed in most works by andy warhol, just vision, but i seem to enjoy those and find them beautiful

Just in case anyone is interested, Denis wrote a book on the subject entitled 'The Art Instinct.'

Absolute briliance

I just took my clamshell style cellphone out of my pocket and had a revelation. Similarly shaped objects have facinated man for over 100,000 years.

He does start by emphasizing the complexity of the matter at hand. It's a 17 minute long video - how much complexity do you think can be fit into such a presentation. But what do you mean by a "unic lingual concept" and nature/culture rhetorical code?

If you liked this talk, you might be interested in Dutton's book "The Art Instinct" on the same topic. It is an interesting read (although he is very critical of some art that he doesn't like, e.g. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull").

So beauty is in the eye of the beholder passed down individually through ancestry!

In art, there are people who love the most conventional stuff (imagine classic fairy tales), others that love complexity (imagine Ulysses), which implies skill, and others that love fads (imagine Twilight), which imply power. We search for different things that can have an evolutionary principle, but we decide to consider something beautiful because that way we create our identity, by belonging or not belonging, which implies survival. To conclude, social and evolutionary factors are combined.

Did this dude eat a peanut butter sandwich before coming on stage?

@starsoffyre (continued) for organisms to adapt in. The way that chemicals organise and react are all determined by the laws of physics, and as a result build up to form organisms that are able to develop a psychology that gravitates towards aesthetic beauty.

Taking a cue from RSAnimate, I see... great work.

nice and real