The “functional” account of awe—biologists’ and psychologists’ attempt at explaining why we feel this emotion—proposes that it spurs humans to put aside their individual interests in the service of a collective project. Members of the species who were inclined to feel awe, the story goes, were better able to band together to accomplish essential tasks. By extending ordinary thinking with awe at nature’s immensity, humankind may have ensured its own survival—a reminder to us, perhaps, to look away from our small screens long enough to confront the dangers that threaten our kind and our planet
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