ABSTRACT
Linguist and evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker, in his trea-tise entitled How the Mind Works, claims that “music is anenigma.”2 Although this is undoubtedly the case, Pinker is referring specifically to the enigma of music’s evolutionary provenance. Is it an adaptation in its own right, or an evolutionary accident, a byproduct of other evolved traits? In a bold move, Pinker proclaims music to be “auditory cheesecake,”3 a wonderful but nonadaptive outgrowth of the ‘real’ adaptation, language, and thus ultimately “useless” for human life.4
