ReWriting the Human Story - Chapter 6

Singularity.FM

"Most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing the contrary that the mind is itself the principle element of creation." Rabindranath Tagore It is arguable whether it is proper for us to be classified as Homo Sapiens because it is arguable as per how wise we actually are. But, in this chapter, I will claim it is much less arguable that we are proper Homo Narrative. Because even before the time humans started to huddle around campfires, even before we were able to speak, story was at the core of what is human. Human biology has evolved around and wired for 2 main types of stories: The first one is the story our human brain tells us about the world and who we are in it. Because our brain has evolved to produce a single story of “reality”. And that story isn’t strictly true, comprehensive, or accurate. Rather it is a story designed to make sense to us. Because our brain is able to perceive only a tiny fraction of the universe around us. It has evolved to filter out a number of crucial details and take shortcuts into creating the story of the outside world inside our heads. And we have developed a variety of evolutionary, physiological, and psychological biases. Thus, according to neuroscientist Anil Seth, our brain’s story is a single, unreal, “hallucinated” story. And, since we are all hallucinating all the time, Dr. Seth claims that “reality is just a hallucination majority of people agree upon.” In other words, reality is a story. A story that a sufficient number of people accept as true. Furthermore, we don’t just passively experience the world but we actively generate it. So it comes as much from within as it comes from without. Finally, story is the natural way in which the mind takes in data from the outside world and then processes it so that we can make sense of it. The second type is the story we tell and hear from others. Because we are evolutionarily selected for being good storytellers and good listeners. This is due to the fact that story is the best way of communicating information, especially when we had no writing. So people who told the most captivating stories usually had the most crowded campfire and rarely went hungry. Those who remembered well the stories about the migration of the herds, the seasons of the year, the best ways of securing water, food, shelter, and fire, had the best chance of survival. Those who didn’t were less likely to survive and pass down their genes. So whether it is perceiving and processing the world inside our heads, or sharing practical information with others, story is critical to human survival. And, in biology, things that provide benefit to survival get selected for. Read the rest here: https://www.singularityweblog.com/biology-of-story/