Stories: A Part of Our Biological Evolution
The reason that humanity is the dominant species on Earth is entirely due to
our ability to tell stories and converse in a language. Before we had science,
which can be thought of to represent data and statistics, we had story. Tribes
would gather around the fireplace and tell stories of the day. In doing this,
they were able to communicate dangers to each other and identify patterns.
For example, if one member of the tribe got sick by touching a certain plant,
then the other members would learn about this in the stories that were told
that night. This would allow the tribes to carry wisdom forward into future
generations to ensure that they survived to pass along their genes to their
children.
Very early in human history, before the written word, we had to learn how to
share these stories. They were our first form of science in many ways. David
C. Lindberg touches on this in his book, The Beginnings of Western Science.
Where we understand death as what happens when the human heart stops
beating, early man would not accept such an answer. For early man, the
reason for someone dying had to be as specific and personal as that person
had been. Every death was a story. Likewise, every storm that passed wasn’t
a weather phenomenon but rather an angry deity. The sun didn’t just rise and
fall; it was pulled across the sky by a chariot. It was stories that shaped the
world, not facts and statistics.
And so, it was stories that shaped the human brain as it developed throughout
the ages. We know that our brain is still quite old in design. The modern era
has opened up the world so that anyone can interact with anyone else, but our
brains are only truly capable of maintaining about 150 social connections.
This number comes from the size of the tribes of early man as the brain was
developing. It is also why elements of xenophobia and racism can seem so
deeply rooted. To early man, the outsider was the enemy. Those inside the
tribe were connected closely to one another, but it wasn’t because they shared
the same blood. They were connected because they shared the same stories.
Sharing stories around the campfire was built into our evolutionary
development specifically to deepen that sense of connecting with those
around us. The mirroring effect was one that strengthened the tribe and kept
it together because a tribe that was united was a strong tribe. When tribes