Each week, I’m going to be sharing some things I’ve learned from stuff I’ve read. Topics may range from philosophy to sports and anywhere in between.
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Stories
During the daytime, we let Netflix, Hulu, and someone else’s HBO account tell us stories.
Before we sleep as children, we ask our parents to tell us stories.
When we dream, we tell ourselves stories.
In short, humans love stories. Or, as Jonathan Gottschall in The Storytelling Animal puts it, “human life is so bound up in stories that we are thoroughly desensitized to their weird and witchy power.”
So how did stories end up becoming such an integral part of our day-to-day lives?
The answer likely lies in natural selection, given the universality of storytelling across all cultures. Somehow, storytelling became such a biologically advantageous skill that you can’t find a society that existed without it.
There are a couple of theories that Gottschall discusses in his book.
Stories function as a mating device: In the same way, a pigeon might strut around a certain way in order to attract a mate, storytelling may be a way for us to charm and delight potential partners. According to this theory, stories didn’t necessarily help humans survive in the wild. However, if we see the roots of storytelling as essentially a mating ritual inherent to all humans, then this theory would explain the universality of storytelling in the present-day.
Stories function as an ancient form of a virtual reality simulator: According to this theory, storytelling allowed ancient humans to learn from the mistakes of their peers, without exposing themselves to real danger. In the same way that military pilots use flight simulators to safely enhance their skillset, ancient humans used stories as a way to learn about a dangerous world from the safety of a campfire. This theory would also help explain why humans are so obsessed with stories about problems, rather than stories about wish fulfillment. Stories about problems can teach us valuable lessons, which can help us survive and thrive.
Personally, I really like the idea of storytelling being a virtual reality simulator, albeit a frightening one.
Our brain is obsessed with these stories because, biologically, stories are invaluable. Stories allowed our ancient ancestors to learn from their peers about how to best escape from a hungry pack of hyenas, without having to actually go through the experience. Thankfully, we live in a less dangerous world where stories aren’t quite as essential for survivability.
Nonetheless, stories are still immensely useful for living an interesting life. With our virtual reality simulator, we can converse with deities, dance with demons, and drink with Dionysus.
And, if we’re lucky, we can even become better for it.
Assorted Links, Carthage Edition
In Rome’s second war with Carthage, Rome was nearly annihilated, thanks to the brilliance of the Carthaginian general Hannibal. However, the tide began to turn in Roman’s favor when the Roman dictator Fabian simply decided to stop fighting Hannibal. Instead, Fabian opted for an early version of guerrilla warfare, which became known as the Fabian strategy.
The Carthaginians did everything they could to avoid a third war with Rome. They even went as far as completely disarming. Carthage gave Rome its swords, catapults, and anything related to warfare. This was all in vain because Rome invaded anyway.
The destruction of Carthage by the Romans was so thorough that two thousand years later, when Allied commanders had just defeated Nazi Germany, they contemplated implementing what they called a Carthaginian Peace, which would mean complete destruction of the German nation.
Arguably the three most famous Roman generals in Rome’s wars with Carthage were all named Scipio. Scipio the Elder was amongst the first to fight Hannibal. Scipio Africanus was the son of the elder Scipio and dealt Hannibal a crushing defeat to end the Second Punic War. Scipio the Younger, the adopted son of the second Scipio, was the man responsible for burning Carthage to the ground in the Third Punic War.