[SOLVED] Why do stories have such effect on us? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Subject6051@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

All religions have it's own myths, own stories, own set of values. And these are/were good stories, I mean, even though they are not true, they are certainly interesting. You won't feel bored by it.

Harry Potter has the same effect on people, like, why should I take Harry Potter seriously, why do I care what happens after Dumbledore dances with Snape (won't give actual spoilers :')

I mean, it doesn't make sense to me. Why do I care so much about a soap opera that I am watching. Harry Potter is the product of just one brilliant woman's imagination. It has no real value on my life. I have no real motivation to read that other than the fact that I like it and I want to know. Harry Potter is somewhat irrelevant to my life, than why does it or any other good story capture our imagination?

Why do I care what the next season of House M.D. entails? Why? What should I care if he dies or lives? Why :')?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] saze@feddit.uk 33 points 1 year ago

Sharing, and believing in, fictions is how distilled units of information are efficiently passed down generations and is one of the bedrocks of our development as a species. This is what allows us to have laws and corporations and agreeing to drive on particular side of the road.

Yuval Noah Harari covers this more eloquently in his book Sapiens. You would definitely dig the relevant chapters.

[-] Subject6051@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yuval Noah Harari covers this more eloquently in his book Sapiens.

time to read it again I think. It is a wonderful book, but I dont remember reading about this particular topic in enough detail. Thank you for your comment

[-] saze@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

You are more than welcome! The chapter is called Unification of Humankind for anyone else interested, here is a little excerpt:

“Myths and fictions accustomed people, nearly from the moment of birth, to think in certain ways, to behave in accordance with certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. They thereby created artificial instincts that enabled millions of strangers to cooperate effectively. This network of artificial instincts is called ‘culture’.”

[-] Subject6051@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

time to read it again I think. It is a wonderful book, but I dont remember reading about this particular topic in enough detail. Thank you for your comment

haha, thank you again!

[-] PeteZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Seems like there’s a bunch of Sapiens books. Which book and which chapters were you thinking of?

[-] saze@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

It's literally Sapiens, the first book. The chapter is called the Unification of Humankind, from the quick look I had online.

this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023

80 points (92.6% liked)

Asklemmy

43728 readers

1270 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS