"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god."

Aristotle once said this. This just brings to my mind a question.
At what point did society become so ingrained in us, that to reject it makes one seem so arrogant? What is it about our brains that lead us to huddle together? I mean, as far back as you look there were animals in herds. However, they had lone predators just as long. Why is it that community won out over the lone wolf?
I guess that this could be a real world example of the nurturing and sustaining aspects of a society being more beneficial, but that doesn't mean that the loners are gone. We still have nut jobs living in log cabins and sending letter bombs. Then again, if our understanding over everything is based on the subjective basis of nurture, wouldn't it only be our perception that they were crazy?