RE: why are we "The Story telling apes?"
December 28, 2011 at 1:11 pm
(This post was last modified: December 28, 2011 at 1:23 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Well, obviously wherever there is advantage there is a potential con...lol.
That being said, then, just as now, it's apparent that many people really did believe in this stuff. Our stone age ancestors have something of a built in excuse, those of us who still cling to these narratives today have none.
Imagine myth or spell that amounted to subtle natural indicators of migratory schedules. It might very much seem to both the shaman and the tribe that magical power was at play. An unwitting con, sure, but not one engaged in with malice aforethought. They had no other explanation, and no way known to them to acquire one in the first place. This isn't to say that our ancestors could not come up with perfectly reasonable explanations of these things, we do often find stories that describe migrations as an afterthought, nothing mystical about it. "In the time of the falling leaves, when the herds move down the river...it is then that [story about magic begins here]", for example. It is very difficult to find examples of this in our early prehistory, since hunting and animals and food were definitely something that we regarded as "magic"...and again, I can understand why without needing any comparison to a con.
There is a certain value to being able to con people sometimes, it seems. Lying is something that's older than human beings. That show display, the bared teeth, the puffed up chest or eye-spots...all lies...lol. Storytelling could be called lying elevated to art by a species uniquely capable of doing such a thing..hehehe. One of the drawbacks of our (relatively) large intellect, is that it's actually fairly easy to fool us compared to many other animals, and no animal is better at fooling human beings than other human beings (or ourselves).
That being said, then, just as now, it's apparent that many people really did believe in this stuff. Our stone age ancestors have something of a built in excuse, those of us who still cling to these narratives today have none.
Imagine myth or spell that amounted to subtle natural indicators of migratory schedules. It might very much seem to both the shaman and the tribe that magical power was at play. An unwitting con, sure, but not one engaged in with malice aforethought. They had no other explanation, and no way known to them to acquire one in the first place. This isn't to say that our ancestors could not come up with perfectly reasonable explanations of these things, we do often find stories that describe migrations as an afterthought, nothing mystical about it. "In the time of the falling leaves, when the herds move down the river...it is then that [story about magic begins here]", for example. It is very difficult to find examples of this in our early prehistory, since hunting and animals and food were definitely something that we regarded as "magic"...and again, I can understand why without needing any comparison to a con.
There is a certain value to being able to con people sometimes, it seems. Lying is something that's older than human beings. That show display, the bared teeth, the puffed up chest or eye-spots...all lies...lol. Storytelling could be called lying elevated to art by a species uniquely capable of doing such a thing..hehehe. One of the drawbacks of our (relatively) large intellect, is that it's actually fairly easy to fool us compared to many other animals, and no animal is better at fooling human beings than other human beings (or ourselves).
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