The human being is separate and superior to all other known creatures by reason of the story.  We are story tellers.  No other creature is a story teller.

Our existence is defined by our stories.  The future of humanity is the rational thinker, but for now our stories are themselves the reason of being.  We build our worlds (which cannot be completely true) with our concepts. We believe anything plausible.  Mpemba effect, racism, the preference  for all things “natural”, religion, the supernatural, all of these are examples of irrational yet firmly held beliefs based on stories.

My favorite examples are food related.  Some food is touted as a miracle food, like avocado or chia or quinoa.  I am not disputing the fact that foods are health, and that our health responds to our diet.  But eating fish once a week or an avocado a day needs to be seen in the light of the rest of the diet.

The preference for all things “natural” is an especially interesting claim.  Human caused “global warming” is a claim often coupled with this sort of naturalism.  Although we can measure warming of about one degree per century we are therefore responsible for future disasters if we do not stop burning fossil fuels.  If you ask for clarification of this logic you are a communist, or worse, a climate denier.