Are We in a Metaphorical Civil War?

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Jonathan gotch: I've been reading stuff about the coming civil war, either literally or metaphorically. He says he thinks we're living inside a sort of cold civil war of story telling where both sides are villainizing the other side. The heroes in our stories are the villains an their stories are the heroes in our Stories. Gotch: One o the reasons you write a book like this is so you can hopefully try to head off some of the most egregious possible futures.

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?”