i worry that we're living inside a big bang of story telling, this sort of shockingly rapid expansion of the universe of stories in every conceivable direction. The average american is consuming 12 hours of media per day. Facts alone are pretty inert and pretty harmless but facts become dangerous when they're worked into powerful narratives. I don't know how we get back on the same page without some way to control the spread of crazy stories. If not coming apart as a country then getting frozen will be impossible.
Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it.
In The Story Paradox, Gottschall explores how a broad consortium of psychologists, communications specialists, neuroscientists, and literary quants are using the scientific method to study how stories affect our brains.
In this conversation based on his new book, Gottschall reveals why our biggest asset has become our greatest threat, and what, if anything, can be done. It is a call to stop asking, “How we can change the world through stories?” and start asking, “How can we save the world from stories?”