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This whole article is nonsensical. >"If humans do someday migrate outward toward the stars, our narrative space will move like an expanding wave before us, a v
by hedgew 11y ago
This whole article is nonsensical.
>"If humans do someday migrate outward toward the stars, our narrative space will move like an expanding wave before us, a vanguard of the imagination."
What reason is there to think that "narrative space" has to expand when a species becomes space-faring?
>"Our need for stories that help us find our way is too important to be left behind."
Why?
Are species or cultures that don't need stories somehow inferior?
Do we really need stories?
>"Knowing where you are in the world is fundamental to knowing who you are"
How do you measure "knowing who you are"? Are people who "know", better or more human than people who don't?
How can anyone claim that anyone "knows where they are"? How many people could point their exact location on a galactic map? (Less than one in a million?)
- benbreen 11y ago"Are species or cultures that don't need stories somehow inferior?" Can you point to any human cultures that don't? I'd argue that storytelling of some kind is integral to what makes us human, and that that propensity toward abstract thought and creativity really does make us "better" than other species, in at least one cognitive sense (though naturally I'm biased by being a human and if I were, say, a hyperintelligent squid or AI that somehow didn't think abstractly, it's possible to judge it differently).
- empthought 11y agoWhy don't the observational investigations of science count as stories for this purpose—with the added bonus that they're not pointless woo or social indoctrination, but rather the closest thing to objective fact that humanity as a collective has learned? For example, the "story" that all life on earth is descended from a single ancestor, and that we are all distant cousins with a pine tree, a wasp, and a cow, is quite compelling.
- zaccus 11y agoBecause the fact that I'm distant cousins with a pine tree, while compelling, is inherently meaningless. Science is a method for achieving a better understanding of the empirical world, but it doesn't begin to address crucial parts of lived experience such as: What is my place within my community? What is the point of me being alive right now? What is 'good'? Stuff like that. I'm sure you could come up with science-y answers for these questions, but those answers would ultimately be yours, subject to your own experience and judgement. There's no empirical, scientifically objective way to approach these things. That's why religion is still a thing, and why we need stories.
- themartorana 11y agoWe need stories - we always have - but now they can be a bit more abstract, or focused on other things. Most art is storytelling though, so, I think the author just needs to tune into the insane amount of storytelling that happens now, even though most of it isn't focused on the stars.
- im2w1l 11y agoImagining possible futures can help guide our decisions.