A Theory of Play

The Prompt

Develop your own provisional theory — or a synthesis of existing theories — that explains why play evolved. Your theory must address at least three of the following challenges: play's metabolic cost, its universality across taxa, the existence of adult play, self-handicapping in play, the role of play signals, and play's apparent purposelessness. Present it as a falsifiable hypothesis and propose at least one observation or experiment that could test it.

Completion Criteria

A written theoretical proposal of at least 600 words that addresses at least three of the listed challenges, draws on existing literature (Groos, Burghardt, Bekoff, Sutton-Smith, or others), states a clear falsifiable hypothesis, and proposes a concrete test.

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