Shapiro,evolution, bad childhood and epigenetic changes (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 16:19 (4552 days ago) @ BBella

Dhw: It may be that Huxley's vision can be prevented by a functioning democracy, but we should not be complacent. Already over here and no doubt in USA as well, technology has eroded vast areas of privacy in a manner foreseen by George Orwell in 1984. -BBELLA: I just happened to watch George Orwell's 1984 this last weekend for the first time...freaky!!! Definitely shows, as a conscious society, where we don't want to go!
These projections of thoughts and ideas of authors and movie makers reminds me of the worm holes my mind takes off on with certain thoughts and ideas. It's like once you see where a thought, decision, or certain mind set could take you, whether it be societal or personal, it's like we can then make conscious decisions to avoid that path. Sometimes I believe that's what movies and stories provide us as a human race - a peer down the rabbit hole we don't want to take. Our "mind" films were probably meant to do the same, among other things...learning from past mistakes, etc. We've created this ability to project the path certain mind sets for the survival of our species. Of course, this ability can be used for good or for bad...like with most all things.
 
This is a very interesting observation. Novels, plays, films certainly do provide us with all kinds of experiences we couldn't otherwise have. Sometimes they're warnings, sometimes they're insights, sometimes they're new perspectives, and sometimes they're sheer fun. My late brother, who was an anthropologist, went through a phase in which he had no time for fiction: real life was what counted. But in his last years, he found himself writing a novel, simply because there are territories you can explore through the imagination that you can't get to in real life. Literature can be a wonderful source of empathy as well as a guide to "rabbit holes" we should avoid, but I guess that depends in the first place on the nature of the writer and/or reader!