Curiosity
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Curiosity is a virtue, and we should cultivate virtues. It's exciting that we live in an era when explanations for many of the most fundamental aspects of human existence are within reach. In particular, many age-old puzzles have been tackled using evolutionary arguments; for many more, we have tantalising hints and hypotheses but not full explanations. Below I've listed some questions in the latter category. Of course, a set of behaviours often has multiple advantages, and there may be no definitive way to weigh their relative contributions to its evolution. But I think it's likely that in many cases, compelling explanations will be found eventually; until then, it's worth reviewing some of the leading hypotheses. Why does humour exist? A "false alarm" mechanism to reduce tension within groups?