QuoteProject
Our ancient forebears who learned to synchronize the movements of dance were those with the capacity to predict what others around them were going to do and signal to others what they wanted to do next. These forms of communication may well have helped lead to the formation of larger human communities.
Daniel Levitin
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The ability to understand and anticipate others' actions can foster community and cooperation.

This quote suggests that the skills our ancestors developed in synchronizing movements and communication through dance were crucial for forming social bonds and larger communities. It highlights the importance of non-verbal cues and understanding in human interaction, which may have laid the groundwork for social cohesion and collaboration in early societies.

Themes

CommunicationDanceSynchronizationCommunitySocial Interaction

In practice

Example use cases

During a workshop on teamwork, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of non-verbal communication.

More from Daniel Levitin

As soon as you hear a proposition, the creative brain in humans assumes for the moment that it's true, and starts trying to find evidence. It's what computer scientists in the old days used to call 'Fifo:' first in, first out. The first piece of information that gets in has a privileged position, even if it's misinformation.
Daniel LevitinRead
What music is better able to do than language is to represent the complexity of human emotional states.
Daniel LevitinRead
Information overload refers to the notion that we're trying to take in more than the brain can handle.
Daniel LevitinRead
That walk around the block, that fresh air, is going to help you work more quickly and effectively when you get back.
Daniel LevitinRead
There are a lot of books about how to get organized and a lot of books about how to be better and more productive at business, but I don't know of one that grounds any of these in the science.
Daniel LevitinRead
There's an ancient connection between movement and music. Most languages don't make a distinction between the words 'music' and 'dance.' And we can see that in the brain. When people are lying perfectly still but listening to music, the neurons in the motor cortex are firing.
Daniel LevitinRead

Similar quotes

After the horse dance was over, it seemed that I was above the ground and did not touch it when I walked.
Black ElkRead
When the labourer co-operates systematically with others, he strips off the fetters of his individuality, and develops the capabilities of his species.
Karl MarxRead
Magic is a state of mind. It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up for a sense of power and prestige. That is a disservice. Magic is very colorful. Of this, I am sure.
Alan MooreRead
I'm afraid that in the United States of America today the prevailing doctrine of justification is not justification by faith alone. It is not even justification by good works or by a combination of faith and works. The prevailing notion of justification in our culture today is justification by death. All one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.
R. C. SproulRead
Thank God! we are in the full enjoyment of all these privileges. But can we be taught to prize them too much? or how can we prize them equal to their value, if we do not know their intrinsic worth, and that they are not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature?
Benjamin FranklinRead
Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.
John CalvinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.