Compelling though the cartoon is, I question the premise that people read the news because we evolved to do so as an extension of scuttlebutt about attacks, pre

Compelling though the cartoon is, I question the premise that people read the news because we evolved to do so as an extension of scuttlebutt about attacks, predators, and disease. Surely where there is communication, there are both intelligent minds and "news" (i.e. some kind of prioritization of information to be communicated). I don't know: this seems an overuse of evolutionary "just so" storytelling that far oversimplifies—and just isn't useful to explain—the nature of intelligence and information. Why not a cartoon explaining how people are intelligent and gain a sense of stimulation and control from information about the world around them, and yet this can result in a lot of negative news etc...? What does running from bears have to do with it?