Hey Steemians!
I've been thinking. Actually, I've been thinking a lot in the past few years.
There are many reasons for this, and as I blog more over time, you'll get to know those in more detail.
I don't pretend to be an expert in anything -- I'm just muddling my way through information overload and fake news like most of us are. But occasionally, very occasionally, I have thoughts that stick in my mind, and I've decided this is where I want to talk about them.
I'll go down any rabbit hole, and I'm happy to follow trains of thought that might lead nowhere, because that's where you find answers -- or at least more interesting questions! But at the end of the day, I think we all have the answers within us, and we need to stop looking externally for solutions to our problems.
Mostly, I'm just here to share my story, because I believe sharing stories is more important than we give it credit for.
Have you ever noticed in how many contexts the word story is used? We read them, tell them, watch them on stage and screen. We've scratched them on cave walls, sat around campfires and told them, and now we tell them to our kids before bedtime before going back to the late night news to hear more.
In fact, "What's your story?" is often the first sentence we'll say to each other. There is little that influences the way we think, than hearing and responding to a good story.
And when you think about it, it's the stories our governments and powerful institutions tell us that influence the way we see the world. So in a sense, it's what we fight our wars over.
I put these ideas in a video I made for my YouTube channel "Popcorn Lobotomy". This is an old video, and I think I've changed a lot since I made it, but here it is for reference. The stuff about story starts around 5:10 or so, you can skip the rest of it.
Since then, I've continued to think about the importance of story, and I've unofficially dubbed this philosophical train of thought "Narrativism".
I want to develop that concept here, preferably as a community, even though I'm certainly no philosopher!
If you're reading this, and you haven't cracked open your blog on Steemit yet, because you think you have nothing new to contribute, or you think your writing isn't up to scratch... well fuck that. Please, fuck THAT.
Click the Blog button and write a post, because if you're authentic and speak your truth, there will always be people that are interested. I will be interested.
There is something bigger happening here. I don't know if I can put it into words, but I'm going to try. If you feel like joining me on this journey, you will be most welcome.
Cheers,
Harvey.
Welome! I was trying to remember where I might have heard the word "narrativism" before. It was in a theory of game design. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNS_theory
Yeah, I did google it, but it's a pretty much unused term. There is one article I found which talked about concepts that are vaguely similar... but it seems that link is down now. Anyway, it's our language, we can re-purpose it as we see fit, right? I just want to find a healthier way to look at the world and the social media phenomenon.
During the 1990s there was an academic movement called memetics, after Richard Dawkins's word "meme," which at the time meant not just a captioned picture circulating on the Internet but any piece of contagious information. I wrote a summarizing piece for IGMS called "Spelunking the Noosphere."
http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=columns&vol=randall_hayes&article=009
And another one about using SF stories to help people think about public policy outcomes.
http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=columns&vol=randall_hayes&article=011
These are interesting ideas.
I also thought about the idea of determinism in narrativism. which seems to line up tangentially with some of the stuff Dawkins wrote in the selfish gene. Notably, the point that we may not be as in control of our choices as we think.
One of the insights I had as I thought about that was that I don't really mind the idea that my actions might not be the result of deliberate conscious choice. In one way, it does violate the idea of free will, which is offensive to many, but at the same time I like the idea we are retrospectively telling stories about the things that we observe, even if we can't control the outcomes.
I guess I kind of believe that consciousness is a filtration system. We take energy in, transform it, and spit it out in a form that aligns with our preferences and experiences. In fact, all life does this, we just do it in a much more sophisticated way than, say, a plant.
The reason I don't mind the idea, is that it raises the importance of creativity over materialism, and to me that's a lovely idea.
I've always been made to feel somewhat frivolous in my pursuit of creative endeavours, and I think most creative people feel similarly. It's almost like it's a dirty secret you need to hide.
"I'm an electrician... oh, and I like drawing... well at least I did when I was a kid... I mean, not now, you know... Who has time? I'm doing adult stuff."
If we give up on this vague concept of free will and look at ourselves as the authors of our own story, it would validate creative pursuits and the instinctive importance I've always felt they hold.
I'll have to read through the second article when I get some time, but it sounds very interesting.
You seem to have jumped ahead quite effectively to where this line of thought eventually leads! I hope you stick around and help me stay on track.
I will seek out and read more of your stuff, as I like your ideas and writing style.
There are some evo bio type people who believe that art of any medium is first and foremost a display behavior, evolved to attract mates and compete nonviolently for status, which is either brilliant or just another example of exactly the bias towards frivolity that you mentioned. I'm not sure myself.
Welcome! I hope you enjoy. Check out my blog @lifeplus1 :)
😊welcome!follow me, good @solik
Welcome to steemit krackerkarakas! just express yourself and the things that you enjoy and you will do fine here.
Thanks lopezdacruz!