"The origin of art is in the shock of the food chain"

That's Robert Hass, former US poet laureate. He said this at an NYU event where he and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson had a conversation about how nature and wonder influenced their career pursuits. I'd love to hear what you think about that comment, Serena, (and anyone else, please), and about his riff on the evolution of altruism leading to both communal living and warfare. Do the two go hand-in-hand? Can you have community without necessarily enforced otherness? Etc. Link is here.