No adult updates their probability that dragons are real after reading Game of Thrones
Not sure about it. Can’t find a poll specifically about dragons, but ~80% adults in the US believe in angels, and ~30% believe in bigfoot.
Humans are not good at discerning reality from fiction, especially if the fiction is presented in a visual form. An emotionally charged movie scene, if well made, will cause the same emotions as a direct participation in the depicted event. Humans do learn from fiction, and there is no build-in filter that allows us to learn only realistic parts from it.
nonfiction is full of both literal lies and statements that are technically true but deeply misleading
I agree, one must exercise caution in selecting nonfiction, as some nonfiction could be more harmful than fiction, for the reasons you mentioned. But I think only a rare excellent fiction book is as helpful as a mediocre nonfiction book.
how are you defining nonfiction? amazon lists over a thousand books on bigfoot in the “science and math” section, and the first 10 all look like they’re on the “definitely real” side. so a nonfiction label is no help.
possibly you mean “actually true” not “labeled as nonfiction in the bookstore”, but that requires the reader know what’s true ahead of time. which would of course be great, but remains elusive.
I should make clearer that I’m extremely in favor of people being much more careful what they include in their media diet, and that I agree fiction has risks people aren’t cognizant of. I just don’t think the nonfiction label is any protection against misinformation.
Not sure about it. Can’t find a poll specifically about dragons, but ~80% adults in the US believe in angels, and ~30% believe in bigfoot.
Humans are not good at discerning reality from fiction, especially if the fiction is presented in a visual form. An emotionally charged movie scene, if well made, will cause the same emotions as a direct participation in the depicted event. Humans do learn from fiction, and there is no build-in filter that allows us to learn only realistic parts from it.
I agree, one must exercise caution in selecting nonfiction, as some nonfiction could be more harmful than fiction, for the reasons you mentioned. But I think only a rare excellent fiction book is as helpful as a mediocre nonfiction book.
how are you defining nonfiction? amazon lists over a thousand books on bigfoot in the “science and math” section, and the first 10 all look like they’re on the “definitely real” side. so a nonfiction label is no help.
possibly you mean “actually true” not “labeled as nonfiction in the bookstore”, but that requires the reader know what’s true ahead of time. which would of course be great, but remains elusive.
I should make clearer that I’m extremely in favor of people being much more careful what they include in their media diet, and that I agree fiction has risks people aren’t cognizant of. I just don’t think the nonfiction label is any protection against misinformation.
https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=bigfoot&i=stripbooks&rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A75&dc&crid=3S0BLIWO5DPKW&qid=1642841717&rnid=283155&sprefix=bigfoot%2Caps%2C146&ref=is_r_n_26