4 ms·

> Is it a fictional fear instilled in our cultural fabric that makes us so averse to what maybe isnt and wont ever be as bad as our stories tell us it will be?

• basch 7y ago
  When I say fiction (narrative not based strictly on history or fact) I dont necessarily mean false. Without storytelling, how do we pass along our experiences? Fiction is often a way to take real things and wrap them up in intrigue to make them more compelling, or more viral. Fiction is often a combination of experiences and dreams, taking a totally real experience and just tweaking one axiom or premise. I think our stories often have a level of competence and efficiency that is lacking in reality. What we accept as systematic and powerful is actually a hodge podge of attempts and accidents. We are pattern matching machines in search of explanation and relationships within randomness. I dont disagree that that part you quoted is a loaded question. All I meant by it is that our imaginations can be more powerful than our experiences, or at least amplify them. Maybe the opposite is true, in that our atrocities are unimaginable until we see them occur.