Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

Hotheads | 375places are inviting, calming, or beautiful; others are depressing or scary.The topic in biology called "habitat selection" is, in the case of Homosapiens, the same as the topic in geography and architecture called "environmentalaesthetics": what kinds of places we enjoy being in.Until very recently our ancestors were nomads, leaving a site whenthey had used up its edible plants and animals. The decision of where togo next was no small matter. Cosmides and Tooby write:Imagine that you are on a camping trip that lasts a lifetime. Having tocarry water from a stream and firewood from the trees, one quickly learnsto appreciate the advantages of some campsites over others. Dealing withexposure on a daily basis quickly gives one an appreciation for shelteredsites, out of the wind, snow, or rain. For hunter-gatherers, there is noescape from this way of life: no opportunities to pick up food at the grocerystore, no telephones, no emergency services, no artificial water supplies,no fuel deliveries, no cages, guns, or animal control officers toprotect one from the predatory animals. In these circumstances, one'slife depends on the operation of mechanisms that cause one to preferhabitats that provide sufficient food, water, shelter, information, andsafety to support human life, and that cause one to avoid those that donot.Homo sapiens is adapted to two habitats. One is the African savanna,in which most of our evolution took place. For an omnivore like ourancestors, the savanna is a hospitable place compared with other ecosystems.Deserts have little biomass because they have little water. Temperateforests lock up much of their biomass in wood. Rainforests—or, asthey used to be called, jungles—place it high in the canopy, relegatingomnivores on the ground to being scavengers who gather the bits that fallfrom above. But the savanna—grasslands dotted with clumps of treesisrich in biomass, much of it in the flesh of large animals, because grassreplenishes itself quickly when grazed. And most of the biomass is convenientlyplaced a meter or two from the ground. Savannas also offerexpansive views, so predators, water, and paths can be spotted from afar.Its trees provide shade and an escape from carnivores.Our second-choice habitat is the rest of the world. Our ancestors,after evolving on the African savannas, wandered into almost every nookand cranny of the planet. Some were pioneers who left the savanna andthen other areas in turn, as the population expanded or the climatechanged. Others were refugees in search of safety. Foraging tribes can't