The first TED stage was not in February 1984. The first TED
stage was probably the campfire of Homo erectus nearly 1 million years ago. I’m
sure Christopher Anderson may have something to say about that. But in the
darkness of that primitive night in the time of sabretooth cats our ancient
ancestors huddled for safety and warmth around the campfires of the time and
would communicate the saga of the day's events to each other. These were the
first lecture halls and classrooms of our species and ideas and knowledge
essential to survive the night and the oncoming dawn were transmitted by the
fortunate few to the rest of the tribe. The cave drawings that emerged in the
times of primitive man would become the first storyboards of humankind.
The need for story and narrative to codify and capture
experience to be transmitted from one individual to another is the essence of
knowledge transfer. In essence, it ensured that one individual’s experience
could serve as a template for the experience of another. These drawings allowed
the development of a storyline. They created a context for the experience to be
encapsulated. A storyline could be developed into a beginning and middle and an
end. Such ancient communal events created the elements of the modern
storyteller. The Opening, The Hook, The Through-line, The Conflict, The Call to
Action, and The New Bliss, all of which comprise the Hero’s Journey. This was
the first classroom and school that ensured that the hard-fought and won
experiential knowledge of one fortunate soul would not get lost within the
depths of the survivor’s being but would become transmitted to ensure the
survival of the species.
In this instant at that ancient TED stage of our grunting
ancestors, we made a quantum leap over every other animal on this planet. We
discovered the ability to teach our experiences to each other. Even before the
advent of language, we learned from these stick-scratched drawings on the dirt
around the campfire of sagas of fear and fortune as we taught the ideas of
survival in a merciless world to each other.
These stories embodied the first elements of community and
fellowship and the seeds of the highest human ideals that would build nations.
These stories of survival in the time of the sabretooth and the wooly mammoth
contained the seed that allowed Neil Armstrong to say a million years later…. "That's
one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.", little realizing
that the actual giant leap was taken by a stick scratching grunting ancestor
squatting with others around a campfire.
Ravi Iyer, MD
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