home about photos phd v1.0

The other day I read a short weblog entry on traffic accidents, specifically how motorists often slow down to observe the crash site. In this particular incident there was no wanton safety requirement for the motorists to slow down. Indeed we sometimes even see this behaviour in traffic flowing in the opposite direction, when the roads are completely separate.

The debate inspired me to write a short response, and it involves an argument I recently published with Prof. Thompson in the Journal of Music Perception regarding the evolutionary origins of music. It's talkback time, so let me know what you think.

 I believe this behaviour has a lot less to do with voyeurism, and more with our curious and empathic nature. Undeniably there is a degree of perverted interest at play here (taking a looser definition)¹, like watching the race track or skateboard competitions and hoping for a smash. I posit however, that what we are seeing here is in part our desire to understand, to learn, and to gain experience. I take this argument from Aristotle's treatise on Metaphysics; that we look because "all men naturally desire knowledge." [2] 

You could argue that is why we hope for "carnage", be it on a road or in a Big Brother house; by experiencing these things we are better equipped to handle these situations if we ever find ourselves in them. Naturally, the inner turmoil one faces of hoping to see a smash (knowledge), yet not wanting anyone to actually get seriously hurt (empathy/survival of species) alludes to this.

1.  Voyeur, n. A person whose sexual desires are stimulated or satisfied by covert observation of the sex organs or sexual activities of others. Courtesy of Oxford English Dictionary.