Storytelling

I'm becoming increasingly interested in the idea of storytelling.  I think it's perhaps the most important facet of human society and culture.  The desire to tell and participate in stories is, fundamentally, in almost everything we do.  Why do we take vacations?  Why do we try to become rich and famous?  Why do we try to find mates and have children?  Why do we play games?  Why are we social?  Why do we have art?  What does all this amount to, in the end?  What is the legacy of our existence?

The only meaning we, as humans, are capable of producing beyond spiritual understanding and inner peace (i.e., in a secular sense) is caught up in our ability to amount to something.  A wasted life is one whose story is not worth telling.

So we try to succeed, prosper, be funny, entertain our friends and invent things.  We try to raise our children well so that they'll look back fondly on our guidance.  There aren't many of us who have a legacy in the collective memory of large portions of society itself, but we can at least create positive, lasting experiences in the minds of those we do know.

I listened to an interesting talk on TED the other day regarding the differences between Indian culture and Western culture.  What I'm currently talking about, this need to carve out some sort of legacy, is not to be confused with the Western preoccupation with what I'll call monoincarnation.  This belief structure (again, predominantly Western) is caught up in the belief that our time on Earth is brief, abutted on both ends by either, a) nothing, or b) eternity spent in some sort of spiritual condominium in the sky (or, alternately, deep underground with poor air conditioning).  During this time, we better do a lot of good, and we better do it fast so we can afford, spiritually, a really sweet condo with a killer view of the cloudscape.

I will not presume to claim intimate knowledge of beliefs with which I am not particularly familiar, but the above stands in stark contrast to a world view in which our time on Earth is one of many, and the process of attaining said rockin' pad involves managing one's finances over a series of lifetimes, accruing enlightenment and over the course of a myriad of mortal existences.  In this sort of model, there is certainly pressure to do good, but not necessarily to accomplish all of your good right here right now.  You have a thousand lifetimes, and what you don't do now can be done in your next reincarnation, so enjoy your time, be good, and we'll see you the next time around.

Neither of these two spiritual models are what I'm talking about.

Again, I'm talking about something more secular; the desire to leave society itself in a better, more enlightened state than you left it.  To create something in it worth remembering and perpetuating by those you leave behind.  This has nothing to do with my own salvation, but, rather, with increasing the knowledge and depth of the collective memory of those of us still chilling on the mortal plane.

So, all that said, I like stories.  I find myself, lately, very enthralled with the notion of finding ways to allow humans to tell stories to each other in new and interesting ways.

I think there is potential in crowd sourced, moderated content and ideas.  Evolution takes place through a series of mutations taking place in a controlled, otherwise stable environment.  Evolution, generally, tends towards advancement (at least I can't think of cases of evolution blatantly creating something less prepared to deal with the constraints under which it has been placed).  Sometimes genetic algorithms can produce answers to problems that are otherwise difficult to solve via traditional means.

Collaborative storytelling and world building led by a benevolent, despotic, principle author.  This happens with teams developing video games and movies already, though that is company-sourced content and ideas, rather than crowd-sourced.

I'd like to see it - either of the two - done with novels.