
Ancient campfires may have aided the rise of storytelling - benbreen
http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2014/09/ancient-campfires-led-rise-storytelling
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andy_wrote
This reminded me of a fun and amusing sci-fi short story called "The Tryouts,"
by Barry Longyear, about an alien culture oriented around storytelling by
firelight, which was their means of spreading news and information. The news
had to be cast as a good story to be culturally acceptable and paid attention.
Recommended if you can get your hands on it (I read it in an Asimov's
anthology that I borrowed from a friend).

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morganf
Modern parallel:

My business partner and I have a weekly brainstorm on Tuesday night (not quite
by campfire) that's focused on us coming up with wacky and crazy creative
ideas. We often do it over wine, we let our imaginations run wild, we try to
come up with extreme concoctions that might just be able to work, and we have
a space to be creative and no idea is bad during that time. Surprisingly,
we've found that this really helps our creativity for the other 99.9% of the
work-week: sometimes, our crazy ideas come back to us (in more reasonable
forms, less extreme) that we then implement and make happen!

In other words: we realized, too much of our day-to-day work is concerned with
tactical issues, so we've created a space around a virtual fire to unleash our
creativity, which then helps us in the day-to-day.

Maybe this work due to evolutionary forces on humans since these paleolithic
days!

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Mikeb85
This should be common sense to anyone who's ever sat around a campfire.

I mean, all the work is done for the day, you've likely eaten (or are eating),
the dark sky and the fire sets the mood, stories are told. We still do it to
this day (although not as often). It's why people go camping...

~~~
b_emery
I like to think that we're genetically predisposed to enjoy sitting around
campfires. The reason being that all of our ancestors that _didn 't_ enjoy it,
and were instead walking around the forest at night, didn't survive long
enough to pass on their genes. Makes for a good campfire story at least.

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hosh
In the old stories and myths, Fire was the inspiration. The spark. The
kindling. It's flames lighting up the dark naturally attracts people to gather
in, to look inward instead of outward into the shadows. Fire can't travel far
from it's source of fuel, it must be carried like a torch. One of the first
things you learn about Fire is that fire is meant to be shared.

Some of the older cultures have a fire tending tradition. For some, the "fire
starter" was a sacred, and respected skill. In others, a boy or a girl was
initiated into the tradition by given a fire to tend when they come of age
(around 10 - 12). They tend to it all their lives, merge the fires when they
get married. When their children becomes of age, they start a fire for the
children from their own fire. When they die, that fire they have tended all
their lives cremates their body for the final time.

Modern-day Fire rituals are not confined to the candle or the flame or turning
on the TV. Running a torch around the world is an example.

These days, we're out of touch with Fire. We typically control it in the form
of gas fuel lines or electricity (lightning, in the old stories are considered
a different form of fire). Your mom probably told you not to touch the stove,
because it is hot and it will hurt. We have fire-safety drills. We have
fireman who comes in to wipe out the fire, lauded as heroes. The typical story
we have around Fire these days involve explosions, anger, and destruction.
Lots of mad cackling.

The old stories of Fire, on the other hand, speak about inspiration, will and
drive. Fire worked with the other elements: Earth to contain it and is itself
the fuel and raw materials; Water to circulate and transport heat; Wind to
stoke it up. Fire is to be respected, both the fire in the campfire and the
fire within your belly.

When you lead people in your quest to make it big, change the world, or to get
rich, is your inner fire that of anger, rage, suffering, and destruction? Is
your "disruption" story another fancy way of saying attack and ill will? Is it
another way of saying you're going to take over the world and control it with
power?

Or is your inner fire inspirational? Is it the clear, cleansing fire that
burns the darkness you carry within? Is it the kind of fire that you'd share
with friends? Is your inner fire the warmth of your love and the light of your
vision?

~~~
Mikeb85
> For some, the "fire starter" was a sacred, and respected skill ... These
> days, we're out of touch with Fire.

Which is why everyone should go camping, and be forced to start their own fire
with only matches (no fire-starter). I'd say with a couple sticks, but then
they'd never go camping again.

Starting a fire, tending it, cooking over it, and sitting around it and
telling stories/playing games is one of the best experiences one can have,
it's fun, frustrating, satisfying, and enlightening all at the same time (just
put the phones away though).

~~~
hosh
Yep, that's the difference between book learning and experiential learning. Or
rites of initiation. I don't know about the extreme of making everyone start
their own fire, although the experience of starting a fire with a good guide /
storyteller to walk someone through it is a powerful experience.

The next startup I am joining, I'm going to try convincing the whoever it is
to do this kind of a thing. "Team bonding" is not a very good substitute.

~~~
Mikeb85
> I don't know about the extreme of making everyone start their own fire

It's fun though! We do it nearly every weekend in the summer. It's also fun
cooking on a wood fire - you set the heat by moving the pot around, stoking
the fire, spreading the coals, etc...

~~~
hosh
Yeah, I've done it before, it is fun :-)

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solipsism
_whereas daytime talk was focused almost entirely on economic issues, land
rights, and complaints about other people, 81% of the firelight conversation
was devoted to telling stories_

Correlation is not causation. Maybe people found that stories are best suited
to being told by firelight, but without fire they would have found time for
them at other times.

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hosh
“The power of the flame is reproduced in our homes through fireplaces and
candles.”

These days, the role of flame in the hearth has been taken up by the TV.

It's why I like my Franklin stove in the living areas and relegated the TV
into a separate room.

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zellyn
In other news, Ancient wells may have aided the rise of water drinking.

I guess if "I hacked my life by taking cold showers" is worthy of hn
attention, then "I hacked my culture by telling fireside stories" should be
too...

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benbreen
Tweaked the title a bit because it's drawing a hyperbolic conclusion from the
paper it cites (which is nonetheless interesting):
[http://www.pnas.org/content/111/39/14027](http://www.pnas.org/content/111/39/14027)

