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First, my words for evolution: bottle-necking, finches, gradual change.

I thought our discussion didn't get as far as many of us would have liked, but it sort of chipped at the surface, which is a decent start. I agree with many of the ideas King presented in his book, including that stories are only what we make them to be and that stories can have terrifying power in human's hands. And I empathized, I suppose, with the feelings of resentment towards the story of Genesis and the people who follow it, because that story makes me feel very small and unwanted in a very black and white world. That isn't how it feels to everyone, but that is how the story makes me feel, and I rather resent being made to feel something I don't want to feel, which is probably why I jumped so quickly to defend King in our discussion. At the same time, I doubt that someone can't entirely be made to feel something without their consent, so maybe I'm sensitive to messages suggesting insecurity and insignificance in stories.

I had something to say about looking at my bookshelf as an example of the power of stories but I don't believe I can faithfully remember my point, so I'm just going to leave a note to myself/everyone here so that I can perhaps remember it by the time class comes.

Earlier in the discussion people mentioned the chance of current scientific theory becoming future myth, and I agree that what we currently hold to be the "truth" will most likely just become myth. Much of what humans know is only inference or guess work, and it would surprise me very much if humans ever develop concrete answers to any question we ask. It's the nature of the universe and the nature of humans to change entirely based on perspective. I would love to get clear-cut answers to how things work and why they behave the way they do, but deep down I know I never will (depressing? Why yes, yes it is. It's kind of fun though, too, if you squint).

Too bad stories can't change our physical world to the extent of making me a therizinosaurus.