Homo narrare. Narrative Intelligence 3.0: Managing Reality and Influencing People

Why has cinema captivated the world? Spending two hours escaping into a world of «once upon a time» offers a much-needed distraction from a life filled with tiresome, mundane, and endless responsibilities. For most people, daily routines are relatively predictable and banal. But spending two hours in a world of «sometime, somewhere,» where anything is possible, feels magical. Once a story turns on this internal «television,» it becomes impossible to look away. Capturing attention comes at a price, and what is demanded in return is substantial.

Unlike the stream of weekdays filled with trivial details, a story told in a film can become a form of vivid and extraordinary life experience. Cinema compresses time, eliminates daily clutter, and polishes the rough edges of reality. Stories have the power to romanticize existence, elevate the significance of events, and emphasize the good and bad qualities of people. On one hand, stories resemble our world; on the other, they possess a supernatural quality. The diverse sensual pleasures of stories not only nourish us physically, emotionally, and spiritually but have become as vital as real food. Such feasts often lead to a lasting craving.

Gregory Berns, using fMRI to study the left temporal cortex, sought to clarify whether neural connectivity related to a text would persist while reading a novel in the evening, the following morning, or even for several days. The temporal part of the brain is linked to linguistic perception. Anyone who has ever picked up a book and could not put it down or binge-watched seven seasons of a favorite series knows what it means for a story’s mood to color everything they do. It is as if one starts living in Middle-earth or thinking in the terms of the Seven Kingdoms.

It turns out this is indeed the case – heightened neural activity persists. Berns called this «shadow activity,» comparing it to muscle memory developed through physical tasks, such as a tennis serve or a golf swing. This heightened activity also appeared in the brain’s sensorimotor region, whose neurons are tied to creating sensory representations for the body. This phenomenon, known as «grounded cognition,» occurs, for example, when the thought of running activates neurons associated with the physical act of running.

Reading about running truly has a comparable effect. «Neural changes linked to physical sensations and motor systems suggest that reading a novel can place you in the protagonist’s body,» says Berns. «We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes metaphorically. Now we see that something biological may also occur.» This important conclusion prompts us to critically reconsider our relationship with attention-grabbing stories, books, and films – and the time we devote to them, every minute of our lives.

How and why does this happen? How does the process evolve from attention to biological change? It all lies in the structure of the human brain and the ways it functions.

The Human Brain – An Eclectic Design

How the Triune Brain Emerged and What’s Really Going on Inside It.

For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Matthew 25:29

Our brain is a complex system of interconnected structures. Its architecture reflects the entire evolution of life, comprising functional modules responsible for sustaining life. These modules, while conditionally distinct, are deeply interconnected. The average reaction time for a human – measured as the interval between seeing a flash of light and pressing a button in response – is approximately 250 milliseconds. By comparison, an average computer processes information 750 million times faster. However, this fact pales in significance when we consider the vast capabilities of the brain and the extraordinary talent of nature, an unmatched yet remarkably resourceful designer.

The «Reptilian Brain» – The Oldest Layer. The first and most ancient layer of the brain is the «reptilian brain,» which emerged about 150 million years ago. This structure governs three fundamental functions crucial for individual survival:

– Safety: It enables instantaneous decisions based on the «fight-or-flight» algorithm. Interestingly, this well-known reaction omits a third possible response: freezing.

– Foraging: Actions related to finding and securing food.

– Reproduction: Identifying and seeking suitable mates to ensure the continuation of the species.

The «reptilian brain» works ceaselessly, yet we remain unaware of its operations. Its key performance indicator (KPI) is not awareness but rapid and reliable responsiveness. Awareness is an energy-intensive, slow, and ambiguous process. While advice often emphasizes the importance of thinking before reacting, doing so could result in being «eaten» before any thought is completed.

The «Mammalian Brain» – The Emotional Layer. Above the reptilian brain lies the «mammalian brain,» also known as the emotional brain. This layer, which developed around 50 million years ago, facilitates survival and interaction within social groups. It governs social relationships, structuring communities such as herds, tribes, prides, families, and societies.

The emotional brain shapes behaviors of dominance and submission, fundamental to hierarchical structures. It also contributes to reproductive behavior, though in a distinct manner: impress and be impressed. This brain layer is the seat of the drive for superiority, aimed at showcasing the exclusivity of one’s genetic material. It enables humans to «understand» pets and find joy in interacting with them. Emotions, experiences, and attention are all rooted in this level.

The «Human Brain» – The Cortex and Consciousness. Finally, about two million years ago, the most advanced layer of the brain emerged: the structures responsible for consciousness. While the functions of the earlier layers are relatively well understood, the purpose and workings of the conscious brain remain the subject of much speculation and misunderstanding.

Imagine a thin sheet of material, 2—3 millimeters thick, with sides slightly over 40 centimeters. This «sheet» houses approximately 18 billion neurons, forming the cerebral cortex. Is that a lot? For comparison, the entire brain contains about 87 billion cells. While 18 billion may sound impressive, the cerebellum, the brain’s coordination center, contains twice as many neurons. This suggests that nature prioritized steady movement and balance over composing poetry or formulating scientific theories.

To this day, many people associate consciousness with advanced abilities such as planning, developing military doctrines, crafting scientific theories, composing novels and poetry, creating art, and producing films. However, all these activities are merely byproducts – unintentional parallel outputs of the cerebral cortex’s primary purpose: adaptive responses to environmental changes with minimal energy expenditure.

The cortex achieves this adaptation by accumulating proven interaction strategies and transitioning them into unconscious, energy-efficient processes. Most importantly, the brain strives to avoid creating new processes whenever possible, as they demand exorbitant additional energy. But how and why did this principle of brain function come into existence?

The Brain’s Energy Concept

What truly matters is what happens within us, not to us.

Misunderstandings and lethargy produce more wrong in the world than deceit and malice do.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The issue of conserving energy and using it wisely boils down to the strategy for managing it. The brain is constantly involved in optimizing processes that require energy: thinking, physical activities, reactions, actions, and the functioning of internal organs. Even digesting food requires energy.

Canadian neuropsychologist Donald Hebb demonstrated that when brain neurons activate, they release neurotransmitters. These are absorbed by neighboring cells, transmitting important information. Over time, this synaptic transmission can strengthen, as similar messages travel along the same neural pathways, eventually becoming automatic. Essentially, every experience activates thousands, possibly millions, of neurons. If a task is repeated enough, the brain quickly learns the pattern, automatically activating the same neurons. This is how the brain develops efficiency strategies – relying on pre-formed templates rather than «reinventing the wheel» each time, triggering a conveyor belt of unconscious processes.

People rarely think about the many actions they perform daily, even the simplest ones. Brushing their teeth, brewing coffee, driving a car – these are just a few examples. Over time, the brain builds a massive «library» of such behavioral templates. It’s hard to quantify how much energy was spent optimizing and organizing these seemingly simple yet essential tasks.

Most of these processes are unconscious. Markus Raichle, the pioneer of the brain’s default mode network, explains that the brain is constantly constructing an internal model of the surrounding world. This model works as a forecast, helping the brain predict and prepare for events. As long as predictions hold true, the brain doesn’t engage attention, which is always costly and energy-intensive. However, when something contradicts the prediction, it immediately captures attention. For instance, stepping onto a stopped escalator can cause a sudden jolt. Why? Your brain’s forecast, repeatedly confirmed, assumes the escalator will move, so it compensates for the expected acceleration.

This principle applies universally. In daily life, people rely on existing behavioral programs and are more inclined to adjust them or adopt ready-made templates than to create entirely new ones. The brain follows this energy-saving logic persistently and subtly.

For the brain, its operation resembles a business – a craft of managing limited resources. In its case, the limited resource is energy, which is constantly in demand. While the brain accounts for about 2% of body weight, it consumes a disproportionate amount of energy – approximately 20% of the body’s total. In practical terms, this translates to a power consumption of about 12 watts. Imagine how much power a computer would require if it had the same capabilities as the human brain.

The brain never truly rests, not even during sleep. It uses about 350—400 calories daily, primarily in the form of glucose. Energy consumption peaks around ages 5—6 when the brain can utilize up to 60% of the body’s energy. In adults, the brain’s energy consumption is notably higher in the evening than in the morning. This is because, throughout the day, cells – especially their connections – work harder to transmit signals and consume more energy. Daily impressions are remembered, classified, and cataloged in memory. Events are transformed into experiences, integrated into narrative programs, refined, and used to enhance the worldview. Ultimately, this process reshapes the architecture of neural connections.

While working, the brain can direct blood flow to specific areas where energy demand spikes. This happens when those areas are engaged in solving complex cognitive tasks – problems for which no pre-existing narratives exist in the brain. Examples include learning a new skill, mastering a musical instrument, or studying a language from a completely different linguistic group. Such energy surges also occur when circumstances are constantly changing, such as planning a chess strategy.

Once a skill is developed and practiced, it no longer requires intense effort or concentration, resulting in significantly lower energy consumption. But just how substantial are these energy surges for the brain? And why is the body willing to pay such a high price for the brain’s operation?

This story began long ago. Today, we’ve mostly solved the problem of hunger. But for millions of years, our ancestors faced the constant threat of starvation. Yet, even under these conditions, one-fifth of all consumed energy went to support the brain. Every change requires tremendous energy expenditure. The seemingly simple transformations people dream about as children, imagine as teenagers, and encounter as adults often prove overwhelming. To truly change, one must let go of something, sacrifice something, and rebuild something. The brain knows exactly how much energy that costs. Changing yourself is expensive. It’s easier to rely on what already exists or borrow what the environment offers, then rationalize that this is the better option, even if it isn’t.

Unknowingly, people are cautious and meticulous about embracing new thoughts and ideas. They also handle their imagination and overall mental work sparingly. In a way, we protect our brains by relying more on common sense, habits born of past experience, or the wisdom and lessons passed down by older generations.

Sometimes people genuinely say they’re lazy, content with their status, or satisfied with the way things are. They back this up with plenty of explanations and arguments, focusing on possible difficulties or unsolvable problems. Imaginary obstacles become the perfect excuse for inaction. People aren’t ready to pay the price for change, but they can’t admit this, even to themselves. It’s not that they don’t want change – it’s that their brains resist it. The visual structures in the brain consume so much energy that it’s hard to comprehend. This is one reason why humans, without a pressing need, are reluctant to think deeply or reflect on complex issues.

Depending on people’s willingness to think and act – and their readiness to spend energy – they can be roughly divided into three groups: those who actively shape events, those who observe and understand what’s happening, and those who are constantly surprised by everything around them. If someone is always amazed by what’s going on, you can confidently guess they’re not ready to change anything, even the things that surprise them. Observing requires more energy than simply being surprised, while creating and managing is the most energy-intensive activity of all. But this energy expenditure is precisely what drives development.

A Multitude of Intelligences

If you are smart, where does your intelligence reside?

We did the impossible because we didn’t know it was impossible.

Anonymous

Humanity has survived mainly by countering the brute strength and agility of its environment with intellect. Today, we ask how and why a light appeared at the end of the evolutionary tunnel – the transformation of neural tissue into gray matter, the source of intelligence. Was it due to labor activity fostering new neural connections, walking on two legs that redirected and increased blood flow to the brain, or perhaps the constant need to replenish energy for movement and cognitive processes?

Humans avoided becoming just another link in the food chain because the brain gained a universal weapon: intelligence. This weapon enables strategies, adapts to circumstances, plans changes, organizes battle formations, and coordinates orderly retreats.

The term «intellect» comes from the Latin word meaning «understanding» or «cognition.» It encompasses not just the general ability to understand and learn but also the capacity to solve problems, achieve goals, and accomplish what we associate with personal success and happiness today.

Among the various types of intelligence, IQ (intelligence quotient) is the most recognized. Its prominence comes from the long history of IQ testing, the simplicity of representing results as a single, comparable number, and the standardization of tests, which aids in predicting professional qualities. IQ measures abilities such as setting goals, planning, strategizing, learning, and applying abstract concepts. However, it is now evident that IQ alone does not fully capture a person’s potential or guarantee life success. External factors, like iodine supplementation in developing countries, have even been shown to raise IQ scores. Ultimately, IQ tests demonstrate how well someone can take IQ tests.

To better understand the full range of brain capabilities, scientists and theorists concluded that one type of intelligence is insufficient. The theory of multiple intelligences emerged, proposing nearly ten distinct types. Each type reflects a dominant functional quality, making it easier for individuals to succeed professionally by leveraging their strongest type.

Joel Davitz and Michael Beldoch first highlighted this issue in 1964, and Howard Gardner laid the groundwork for the theory in 1983. Gardner, regarded as its founder, initially identified six types of intelligence, which later expanded. These include:

– Linguistic intelligence: Proficiency in written and spoken language.

– Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ability to handle numbers and logical operations.

– Musical intelligence: Sensitivity to rhythm, tone, and sound.

– Visual-spatial intelligence: Orientation and understanding of spatial relationships.

– Naturalistic intelligence: Awareness and understanding of nature.

– Kinesthetic intelligence: Physical coordination and body movement.

– Social and intrapersonal intelligence: Skills in social interactions and self-awareness.

As new professional fields and activities emerge, the list of intelligences may grow further.

Regardless of profession, there are core abilities that impact daily life and significantly shape one’s destiny. These are:

– IQ (intelligence quotient): The ability to learn, reason, remember, and solve problems.

– EQ (emotional quotient): Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage one’s own and others’ emotions effectively.

– NQ (narrative quotient): Narrative intelligence, the least studied yet most critical ability to interpret and influence behaviors – both one’s own and others’ – to achieve goals.

NQ, in particular, governs how we manage people, moods, and entire lives. As the saying goes: «The one who knows remains silent, the one who speaks does not know.» Perhaps this is because narrative intelligence plays the leading role in shaping systems of human behavior and overall existence.

What Can Consciousness Really Do?

Why Is a Person Never to Blame?

People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.

Carl Jung

The most critical function of human consciousness and intellect is adaptation – adjusting abilities to fit a current behavioral model that promotes survival. It is worth noting that consciousness performs this task exceptionally well. However, adapting to today’s «concrete jungle» is vastly different from how early humans adapted to the wild. Back then, adaptation primarily involved integrating into new food chains or adjusting to seasonal climate changes.

In modern times, adaptation is no longer passive mimicry or endless evolutionary refinement of organs and physiological processes. It is not about waiting for environmental changes and simply following along. Instead, effective adaptation today requires anticipating changes that do not yet exist and actively engaging with models of a predicted future.

Our consciousness constantly creates a representation of reality, modeling it and incorporating elements that do not actually exist in the real environment. The surrounding world is depicted in our consciousness as a network of interconnected narratives – stories that can be adjusted, restructured, explained, described, redefined, detailed, or entirely reimagined as virtual mental maps with their own navigation systems.

Using these mental maps, humans build strategies, create plans, and only then take action. This ability allows us to coordinate actions for an upcoming hunt or a soccer game, imagine the interior of a house, or conceptualize a business. This power of visualization and planning is one of the primary and essential capabilities of consciousness – but it is not the only one.

Humans possess a unique ability to imagine almost anything. They can also recreate past experiences in their minds, retell those stories to themselves, and relive those moments in their imagination – whether to marvel at them or feel sorrow. These reflections can lead to deep sadness, depression, or even suicidal thoughts.

Through imagination, we can experience emotions and thoughts not only about past events but also about things that have not yet happened. We can feel guilty about our past, our future, or for imagined or real reasons. This tendency can make existence unbearable. People often worry about things that do not exist and feel responsible for events that never occurred. As illogical and absurd as it sounds, this unique trait of consciousness is something we all encounter. Unfortunately, this extraordinary ability comes as a package deal with imagination, visualization, and planning.

However, nature does not concern itself with questions of guilt – whether in the past, present, or future. Concepts like «guilt,» «justice,» or «moral responsibility» are human inventions. Nature has a single purpose and meaning for all life on Earth: the continuation of life. From nature’s perspective, depression and suicide do not serve this purpose and fail to contribute to survival or reproduction.

Thus, consciousness has another critical function: the ability to find justifications and explanations for anything. Even when confessing to the gravest crime, a person will always point to external factors: an unhappy family, bad company, government policies, terrible weather, or other circumstances. This unique capacity to rationalize and justify surpasses all other human abilities. It happens so seamlessly and automatically that we are often unaware of it, as this mechanism of self-preservation works independently and covertly.

Consider this question: «Would you help someone who suddenly collapses on the street?» Most people answer affirmatively. Yet, when faced with such a situation, the same individual might ask themselves countless questions, all aimed at finding reasons not to help. They might assume the person is a hobo or a drug addict, thereby feeling less responsible. Or they might notice other bystanders and rationalize that someone else has likely already called for help. A doctor might worry about legal repercussions for malpractice. Only after all these internal deliberations might the individual decide to help – if at all.

Much of what happens in our consciousness is rapid and imperceptible, yet people are governed and influenced by the questions they ask themselves. For instance, motivational speeches by politicians often pose the question, «Who, if not you?» However, in our minds, this question transforms into, «If not me, then who?» leading us to seek someone else to take action. Francis Bacon once said that a good question is half the answer. Based on recent studies, he may have understated it – a good question might be even more than half the answer.

A person’s words do not always reflect their true intentions and may be perceived differently by others. Many people admit that their statements do not always convey their genuine feelings. However, others must respond to those words, often at personal risk. It is also risky to assume people consistently express their true emotions.

Bright and recent events leave strong impressions, which we often use as examples when modeling future scenarios. Yet, such examples can be misleading: the best, worst, or even yesterday’s day may not accurately reflect a typical day. As a result, unfavorable events often seem worse than they are, while anticipated joyful events may not live up to expectations.

Humans strive to explain everything to themselves, constructing coherent systems of narratives to reflect their world. This sense of order is vital because it provides certainty about the present and future, boosting confidence and reducing anxiety and depression.

Surveys conducted during the pandemic revealed that uncertainty was the greatest source of distress for most people. Uncertainty means a lack of clear, coherent narratives about the future – an absence of direction, clarity, and closure, with endless potential outcomes and endings. This is what consciousness tirelessly combats, continuously crafting a framework of explanatory and justifying narratives.