{"id":5278,"date":"2018-12-10T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=5278"},"modified":"2023-12-16T16:12:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T21:12:54","slug":"53-language-narrative-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=5278","title":{"rendered":"53. Language, Narrative, and Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

Chapter 2: What Were They Thinking?<\/p>\n

Origins of Government, from the Paleolithic to Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Page 53: Origins of the State of Nature: the Cognitive Revolution. Language, Narrative, and Culture.<\/p>\n

Map of archaic human species in Africa and Eurasia, showing how they did not reach into the Arabian peninsula or the frozen North, or cross water to any islands. (With a wolf in the tundra saying \u201cWinter is here.<\/strong>\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a05,000 generations ago, Homo sapiens<\/em> was only the newest of many<\/strong> human species, which had already been evolving and adapting to the various environments of Africa and Eurasia for a couple million years.<\/p>\n

All were brighter<\/strong> than our ape cousins — using fire, making stone tools, etc. But they were all archaic<\/strong> humans.<\/p>\n

None had the brainpower to invent or learn new skills, adapt to frozen tundra, or even cross water, it seems.<\/p>\n

Any new adaptations had to wait for the slow accidents<\/strong> of random genetic evolution over many thousands of generations.<\/p>\n

This new Homo sapiens<\/em> had much the same anatomy<\/strong> as modern humans, but they didn\u2019t yet have the modern human mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That was about to change.<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0In the beginning was the word.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sensation reaching eye.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Archaic Homo sapiens<\/em> didn\u2019t have words. Heck, they didn\u2019t even think conscious thoughts<\/strong> like you and I do. They mainly felt intuitive perceptions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sensation is interpreted across brain regions.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Hardwired<\/strong> systems in the brain took in sensations, interpreted what they meant, and reacted<\/strong> accordingly.<\/p>\n

Perception resulting in popping a strawberry in the mouth.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0They probably didn\u2019t even have memories of the past,<\/strong> which we take for granted. Life was experienced in the now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mini-comic begins.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0But this new species had a few new genes,<\/strong> and new ways of expressing some of the standard-issue genes.<\/p>\n

Just some happy little accidents of evolution.<\/p>\n

One nifty novelty was the remarkable range of vocal sounds<\/strong> they could produce.<\/p>\n

Children playing and making funny sounds.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s easy to imaging children playing<\/strong> with these sounds.<\/p>\n

VARIOUS CHILDREN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Bzzrp! (Ha ha ha) Glatch! Fya-lino! Oke!<\/p>\n

TREE KID<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0…Oke?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tree Kid places hands on tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

TREE KID<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oke\u00a0 Oke\u00a0 Oke\u00a0 Oke\u00a0 Oke<\/strong><\/p>\n

ANOTHER KID\u00a0(Placing hand on the tree)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oke?<\/p>\n

REST OF THE KIDS\u00a0(Pointing at the tree)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oke!\u00a0 Oke!\u00a0 Oke!\u00a0 Oke!\u00a0 Oke!<\/p>\n

That night, the children are asleep near the fire. Tree kid is visualizing the tree and whispers:<\/em><\/p>\n

TREE KID<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oke<\/p>\n

All the children go wide-eyed, as they all envision the same tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Words are magic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Section break)<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Instead of instinctive hoots and howls, with preset meanings and responses, this new species could create new<\/strong> vocalizations, could associate them with any<\/strong> perception, and so share<\/strong> that perception with every brain in earshot. For a social animal whose survival depended on working together, this modest mutation delivered a huge<\/strong> advantage.<\/p>\n

People gathering fruit from a tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

FRUIT FOLK 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Cooperation is so much easier, now that we\u2019re all on the same page.<\/p>\n

FRUIT FOLK 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s a page?<\/p>\n

Stick figure with microphone, saying \u201cHello?\u201d, with stack of amplifiers turning it into a screeching \u201cOOOOOOOO\u201d so loud the Earth itself has to cover its ears.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0They still couldn\u2019t think<\/strong> like us, or even have a simple conversation — but these magic words started us on our way.<\/p>\n

Any tweaks that aided social communication swept through the gene pool, all of them amplifying each other in a feedback loop<\/strong> of accelerated evolution.<\/p>\n

Woman and man making tools with rocks.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Wiring for syntax,<\/strong> for example, made it possible to combine (and understand) strings<\/strong> of words conveying much greater detail, nuance, and precision.<\/p>\n

ROCK WOMAN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0No, not that<\/strong> rock. Hand me the darker, egg-shaped one.<\/p>\n

…To your left…<\/p>\n

…Your other<\/strong> left…<\/p>\n

No…<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0It follows that putting the right words in the right order meant a capacity for logical, sequential<\/strong> thought…<\/p>\n

ROCK MAN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Okay, but if you want a rock that won\u2019t shatter<\/em> the first time you use it, you\u2019ll want this<\/strong> rock.<\/p>\n

Couple pondering.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0…and that required a substantial working-memory \u201cbuffer\u201d where words could last<\/strong> long enough to be assembled into sentences.<\/p>\n

PONDERING GUY<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0I need to pre-<\/strong>say sentences in my head, to make sure they\u2019ll make sense<\/strong> to the others.<\/p>\n

PONDERING GIRL<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Hold that thought…<\/p>\n

Prehistoric youth holding an old-timey radio microphone, peering out like a sports announcer.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0And so a new<\/strong> brain process evolved, which could take in the unconscious perceptions and make sense<\/strong> of them — with words and syntax — so that we could share them and be understood.<\/p>\n

It was a full-time narrator<\/strong> in our heads, giving a running commentary explaining our experiences with stories<\/strong> that seemed to make sense.<\/p>\n

ANNOUNCER<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0So it looks like what\u2019s happening now<\/strong> is…<\/p>\n

New brains.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0This mental spin doctor was to become the world\u2019s first\u00a0CONSCIOUS MIND<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not the simple consciousness of an animal brain that\u2019s merely awake and aware…<\/p>\n

…This was the new<\/strong> consciousness of a human mind<\/strong> that was actively thinking!<\/strong><\/p>\n

BRAIN HAVING AN EPIPHANY<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Holy shit!<\/p>\n

Brain with an amplifier feedback knob.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019d gotten that far rapidly enough, but once the human brain started telling stories,<\/strong> our cognitive revolution kicked into overdrive!<\/strong><\/p>\n

BRAIN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Now it goes to eleven!<\/p>\n

Girl daydreaming while others look on.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0For example, by playing around with stories, we could think about what might<\/strong> happen.<\/p>\n

In other words, we had imagination!<\/strong><\/p>\n

ONLOOKER 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Check out Karen\u2014 daydreaming<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n

ONLOOKER 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Whoa… Testing options in a simulator<\/strong> in her head? With no risk<\/strong> of death or embarrassment if they wouldn\u2019t work?<\/p>\n

You bet<\/strong> I\u2019m checking her out! She\u2019s got genes with a future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fruit gatherers are back at the tree, but there\u2019s no more fruit.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0And once we could imagine the future, what was to stop us from imagining the past?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By telling itself stories about its experiences, the brain invented another uniquely human ability — episodic memory!<\/strong><\/p>\n

FRUIT FOLK 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Hey, what happened to all the yellow fruit that grew here?<\/p>\n

FRUIT FOLK 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Yellow? Are you crazy? They were red.<\/strong> I remember distinctly.<\/p>\n

FRUIT FOLK 3<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oh yeah, red. I remember now.<\/p>\n

Aside box.<\/em><\/p>\n

AUTHOR<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0[Readers of the Crim Pro comic may recall (ha) that episodic memory is not a recording of what actualy happened. It\u2019s a story our brains piece together from whatever information happens to be available, and seems to make sense.<\/p>\n

Our brains rewrite and edit each story every time we recall the pieces it\u2019s made from.<\/p>\n

In other words, memory is not about what is<\/strong> accurate…<\/p>\n

it\u2019s about what feels<\/u> true.<\/strong>]<\/p>\n

Couple lounging on a riverbank.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Okay, so… All these thoughts and memories and dreams and ideas and plans? We weren\u2019t just telling these stories to ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The whole point of all this brainpower was social communication.<\/strong> And boy did we get good at it. With story and syntax and increasingly precise language, we were sharing<\/strong> our thoughts with each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MENTAL MAN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Magic words are one thing, but sending out thoughts<\/strong> into other<\/strong> people\u2019s minds?<\/p>\n

MENTAL MAID<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0That sounds like telepathy<\/strong> to me!<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Which is another way of saying cooperation may be our survival<\/em> skill, but story<\/strong> is our\u00a0SUPERPOWER!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Guys hunting a bear.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0With this new superpower of narrative, our newly-thinking species could act as one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We could plan strategies<\/strong> together by sharing (and debating) everyone\u2019s<\/strong> experiences and observations and ideas.<\/p>\n

HUNTER 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Bob, you<\/strong> go behind those trees and distract the bear, then we\u2019ll<\/strong> spear it from behind.<\/p>\n

HUNTER 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s not exactly sporting,<\/strong> is it?<\/p>\n

HUNTER 3<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Yeah, at least give Bob a chance<\/strong> of surviving!<\/p>\n

Bear chasing the guys.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0With everyone knowing the plan, and knowing what everyone else was doing, we could cooperate like crazy. <\/strong>And as circumstances changed, we could alter<\/strong> our strategies on the fly.<\/p>\n

HUNTER 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Okay, Plan \u201cB\u201d — Bob, you play dead,<\/strong> and spear it in the belly when it stops to investigate.<\/p>\n

BOB<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0No. Plan \u201cB\u201d is \u201cRun faster than you<\/strong> guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

People mocking Neanderthals.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Up until now, no human species could do more than ape<\/strong> what they saw others do. But our narrative mind could invent<\/strong> and teach<\/strong> and learn<\/strong> new technologies and skills.<\/p>\n

MOCKER 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Those archaic guys have been making the exact same tools, the exact same way, for a hundred thousand years! …Longer!<\/p>\n

MOCKER 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Ha! Monkey see, monkey do!<\/p>\n

MOCKER 3<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Ugh, you guys are so species-ist.<\/p>\n

Smoldering but enthusiastic guys crashed on the ground, one\u2019s hair is on fire.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Bonus: Learning by doing<\/strong> requires an opportunity, and can seem risky. But now we could rehearse<\/strong> skills and learn from our mistakes<\/strong> in the safe virtual reality of imagination.<\/p>\n

[EDIT SUGGESTION: Change \u201can opportunity, and can seem risky\u201d to \u201cthe opportunity to do it, and real-life mistakes have real-life consequences.\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

EXPERIMENTER<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Aha!<\/strong> I know what we did wrong. Next<\/strong> time, we need to…<\/p>\n

Group listening to a storyteller on a grassy slope.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0As with apes and grooming, archaic humans likely could only bond one-on-one, and only one at a time. But with speech<\/strong> we could bond by sharing<\/strong> our thoughts with everyone in earshot.<\/p>\n

GIRL IN AUDIENCE<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0See? We share everything!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cocktail party diagram.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0We share best with three other people at a time (more becomes an audience rather than a conversation). Each of you can tell three more, and so on, spreading socially useful gossip throughout the group in one evening.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And thus the cocktail party<\/strong> was invented!<\/p>\n

CHATTING VOICES<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Hey, did you hear?<\/p>\n

Do tell!<\/p>\n

Gab\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0 Chat\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0 Dish\u00a0 Chat\u00a0 Share<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Gossip is important<\/strong> for cooperation. It\u2019s how we know who\u2019s trustworthy, who\u2019ll work with whom, who cheats, etc.<\/p>\n

Gossiping group<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Big brains are expensive, evolutionarily speaking, but ours just grew bigger and bigger — mostly so we could gossip<\/strong> about more and more people, and cooperate in larger and larger groups.<\/p>\n

GOSSIP GIRL 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Check out the big brain on Brett!<\/p>\n

GOSSIP GIRL 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Aw, he\u2019s just keeping up with the Joneses.<\/p>\n

GOSSIP GUY 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Keeping up on<\/strong> the Joneses, you mean!<\/p>\n

GOSSIP GUY 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0So Rolf only gave Evie a hug, but Evie didn\u2019t want to make Sharon jealous, so Rolf went over and kissed<\/strong> Sharon in front of everybody, and Fred was like \u201cYou and Rolf? Seriously?\u201d And Angie was all \u201cOh Fred! You\u2019re into Sharon?\u201d and she ran off crying!<\/strong> But the best bit was when Fred ran after her going \u201cNo that\u2019s not what I meant\u201d and Nick & Nicki got up in his face saying \u201cIf you make our little sister cry… when out of nowhere EVIE-<\/strong><\/p>\n

[EDIT SUGGESTION: Needs a closed quote after \u201csister cry…\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

Perplexed woman.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0As it\u2019s just<\/strong> as important to know how much everyone else wants to cooperate with you,<\/strong> this storytelling mind started telling itself very self-<\/strong>conscious stories — of what others<\/strong> must think of you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PERPLEXED WOMAN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Is this the right<\/strong> thing to do?<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019d better not say that.<\/p>\n

I keep having horrible thoughts! I must be a horrible person!<\/p>\n

What will the neighbors<\/strong> think?<\/p>\n

Jiminy crickets<\/strong> but it\u2019s hard having a conscience!<\/p>\n

The mental couple on the riverbank again.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0With brain bits structured to observe ourselves, to judge<\/strong> ourselves, in real time… suddenly, we were self-aware!<\/strong><\/p>\n

MENTAL MAN<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m aware of my own thoughts!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m… aware of myself being aware of being aware<\/strong> of myself!<\/p>\n

MENTAL MAID<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Is that why you\u2019re always talking<\/strong> about yourself?<\/p>\n

Groups of emotional people.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Along with conscious stuff like language and self-awareness and imagination, we also broadened the scope and depth of our unconscious social emotions<\/strong> — feelings (and ways to read others\u2019 feelings) that kept us all in line without having to think about it.<\/p>\n

GROUP A<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Yikes. That<\/strong> was a bit of a faux pas.<\/p>\n

Ha!<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why are we laughing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh man, I am so embarrassed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

GROUP B<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0You did what?<\/strong> You realize how bad<\/strong> that was? I\u2019m outraged!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know. We\u2019re ashamed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But we\u2019re sorry!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We feel so guilty!<\/strong><\/p>\n

How can we make it better?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GROUP C<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Oh honey, don\u2019t cry!<\/strong><\/p>\n

There there, everything will be all right. You\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re here<\/strong> for you.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m sad for<\/strong> her.<\/p>\n

GROUP D<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0[Some anti-<\/strong>social emotions, too]<\/p>\n

I wish I<\/strong> had all the guys fawning over me<\/strong> once in a while.<\/p>\n

Aw, get over<\/strong> yourself.<\/p>\n

GROUP E\u00a0(mammoth hunters)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Great job everyone. We should all be proud<\/strong> of what we\u2019ve accomplished.<\/p>\n

We are!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so satisfying when we all pitch in.<\/p>\n

I tell ya, times like this, life feels good.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s<\/strong> why you\u2019re always grinning.<\/p>\n

I thought it\u2019s because he fell on his head that one time- ha!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shut up, don\u2019t ruin the moment.<\/p>\n

GROUP F (solo)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0I was loyal<\/strong> to you<\/p>\n

But you betrayed<\/strong> me.<\/p>\n

It hurts! It hurts!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to make you<\/strong> hurt.<\/p>\n

[Perversely pro-social?]<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0To understand<\/strong> all these new feelings, in all their shades and nuances, our mind of course created new narratives… like morality.<\/strong> Narratives which, in turn, helped us restrain our selfish urges and encourage cooperation — even self-sacrificing<\/em> cooperation.<\/p>\n

SIS<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Hold that<\/strong> thought…<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0With all this intelligence and creativity and social narrative, we didn\u2019t merely survive<\/strong> in climates and circumstances that would have killed archaic us — we thrived!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And thanks to narrative, what we created and learned during life wouldn\u2019t die<\/strong> with us.<\/p>\n

Instead of waiting ages for an accidentally successful gene<\/strong> to gradually<\/em> spread itself among our descendants, successful narratives — memes<\/strong> — spread themselves throughout society immediately.<\/em> And our children passed these memed skills and norms and ideas and symbols and behaviors on to their<\/strong> children…<\/p>\n

Bonfire dance.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0And so we added\u00a0CULTURE<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

to our growing list of superpowers.<\/p>\n

DANCERS<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Life has meaning!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Music!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beauty!<\/p>\n

OLD AUDIENCE MEMBER<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Phoo on this modern dance. Give me the classics any day.<\/p>\n

PARENT (to child)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the story of when the moon fell in love!<\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Thanks to our new-and-improved biology,<\/em> we had become the first animal with an existence separate<\/strong> from biology.<\/p>\n

Stick figures.<\/em><\/p>\n

STICK FIGURES<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0The only<\/strong> one, actually, so far as we can tell.<\/p>\n

But if we\u2019re wired<\/strong> to act this way, then isn\u2019t our sense of transcending biology just an illusion?<\/strong> …another<\/strong> narrative?<\/p>\n

If so, then do our lives really<\/strong> have meaning?<\/p>\n

Great. Just great. Now you\u2019ve gone an invented philosophy.<\/strong> Happy now?<\/p>\n

Neanderthals reading the script.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Again, all of this happened in the blink<\/strong> of an evolutionary eye. In perhaps as few as a thousand generations, we\u2019d transformed — from one of the non-sapient archaic species without language or culture or creativity…<\/p>\n

NEANDERTHAL 1<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cUgh?\u201d<\/p>\n

You seriously want me to say ugh?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEANDERTHAL 2<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Frikkin\u2019 species-ist author.<\/p>\n

NEANDERTHAL 3<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOoh, look at me. I have language.<\/em> I\u2019m so special!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Montage of Mona Lisa, Pizza, Taj Mahal, symphony, calculus, smartphone showing a relatable webcomic, Voyager, F-22.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS (narrating)<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0…into our modern<\/strong> human species, with the same intensely social <\/strong>brain that came up with calculus and Christianity… that gave us poetry and pizza… that painted the Mona Lisa… that pilots fighter jets, builds cities, composes symphonies, discovers the laws of physics, sends robots beyond the solar system, transmits comics across the Internet…<\/p>\n

A brain hardwired for society<\/strong> through story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stick figures.<\/em><\/p>\n

STICK FIGURES<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0So wait- are we still <\/em>the same species<\/strong> as archaic Homo sapiens?<\/p>\n

Homo sapiens?<\/em> The \u201cwise\u201d man?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t know about wise…<\/strong><\/p>\n

How about Homo narrans,<\/em> the storyteller!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Proas in action.<\/em><\/p>\n

SIS<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0*ahem*<\/p>\n

And with<\/strong> that brain…<\/p>\n

We took over the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JOE<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Great, wonderful. Now we all know how we got to our state of nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any chance of telling us how we got to 1787??<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>View Transcript<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more, here are just a few suggestions to get you started:<\/p>\n

53. Language, Narrative, and Culture<\/u><\/p>\n

Books:<\/span><\/p>\n

Donald R. Wehrs, Suzanne Nalbantian, and Don M. Tucker, eds., Cultural Memory: From the Sciences to the Humanities<\/em>, New York: Routledge, 2022.<\/p>\n

Paul B. Armstrong, Stories and the Brain: The Neuroscience of Narrative<\/em>, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020.<\/p>\n

Matthew E. Brashears and Laura Aufderheide Brashears, \u201cCompression Heuristics, Social Networks, and the Evolution of Human Intelligence,\u201d in Michael S. Vitevitch, ed., Network Science in Cognitive Psychology<\/em>, New York: Routledge, 2020.<\/p>\n

Francesca Giardini and Rafael Wittek, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation<\/em>, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.<\/p>\n

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life<\/em>, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human<\/em>, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Articles:<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew E. Budson, Kenneth A. Richman, and Elizabeth A. Kensinger, \u201cConsciousness as a Memory System,\u201d Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology<\/em>, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 2022): 263-297.<\/p>\n

Vanessa A. D. Wilson, Klaus Zuberb\u00fchler, and Balthasar Bickel, \u201cThe Evolutionary Origins of Syntax: Event Cognition in Nonhuman Primates,\u201d Science Advances<\/em>, Vol. 8, No. 25 (June 2022): 1-12.<\/p>\n

Armin W. Schulz and Sarah Robins, \u201cEpisodic Memory, Simulated Future Planning, and their Evolution,\u201d Review of Philosophy and Psychology<\/em>, Vol. 14 (2023): 811-832.<\/p>\n

Simon E. Fisher, \u201cHuman Genetics: The Evolving Story of FOXP2<\/em>,\u201d Current Biology<\/em>, Vol. 29 (January 2021): R65-R67.<\/p>\n

Joseph Henrich and Michael Muthukrishna, \u201cThe Origins and Psychology of Human Cooperation,\u201d Annual Review of Psychology<\/em>, Vol. 72 (2021): 207-240.<\/p>\n

Francesco Ferretti and Ines Adornetti, \u201cPersuasive Conversation as a New Form of Communication in Homo Sapiens<\/em>,\u201d Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B<\/em>, Vol. 376 (2021): 1-9.<\/p>\n

Paul J. Eslinger et al., \u201cThe Neuroscience of Social Feelings: Mechanisms of Adaptive Social Functioning,\u201d Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews<\/em>, Vol. 128 (September 2021): 592-620.<\/p>\n

Katherine Nelson and Robyn Fivush, \u201cThe Development of Autobiographical Memory, Autobiographical Narratives, and Autobiographical Consciousness,\u201d Psychological Reports<\/em>, Vol. 123, No. 1 (January 2020): 71-96.<\/p>\n

Dan P. McAdams, \u201c\u2018First We Invented Stories, then They Changed Us\u2019: The Evolution of Narrative Identity,\u201d Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture<\/em>, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2019): 1-83.<\/p>\n

Enrico Coen, \u201cThe Storytelling Arms Race: Origin of Human Intelligence and the Scientific Mind,\u201d Heredity<\/em>, Vol. 123 (2019): 67-78.<\/p>\n

Feel free to offer more suggestions in the comments!<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>View Further Reading<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was originally going to be a very brief page, but I was having so much fun with it, and it really does set the theme for a lot of what’s to come. Anyway, I did cut scads of fun stuff about social group size and structure, various takes on Dunbar numbers and brain size, specific genetic mutations beyond the FOXP2 you always read about, specific “wiring” in various bits of the brain for all these new developments like syntax in the left IFG\/STG\/MTG or emotional pre-emptive self-awareness in the pACC\/r.DLPFC\/SC-Pul-STS\/etc or higher consciousness in probably the spindle-shaped Von Economo neurons (love that name) that make up about 56% of the AI and 58% of the pACC (and what about the claustrum?) and the high-speed connections that enable simulation, and how it all develops through childhood as pathways myelinize and etc, and theories on why we don’t have episodic memories from before learning to talk or perhaps even learning to read, and so many fun little throwaway asides and puns and digressions…<\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

Lest you think this whole thing is a pointless digression, there is<\/em> method to my madness. These final pages of this chapter will prove to be relevant (I hope), not only to what the Framers thought, but also to what we right here right now are thinking when we take sides on all the contentious issues of Constitutional Law.<\/p>\n

Folks are going to disagree with my narrative here (lord, I hope they do), but if I do this right we can at least all start the next<\/em> chapter on the same<\/em> page!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. This was originally going to be a very brief page, but I was having so much fun with it, and it really does set the theme for a lot of what’s to come. Anyway, I did cut scads of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,35,58,1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-brief-history-of-government","category-constitutional-law","category-the-cognitive-revolution","category-uncategorized","category-what-were-they-thinking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}