Another argument against consuming fiction: at least a few luminaries believe that human progress has stagnated since about 1970. An extremely popular and potent form and vehicle for fiction, namely,
television, became a mass phenomenon in the US in the 1950s (and a little later in the rest of the world). The most productive members of society are relatively busy and also (because of their higher status and higher incomes) have relatively good access to enjoyable experiences, making them relatively less receptive to a new form of enjoyable experience. Also, it is plausible that a very productive person will have acquired the knowledge behind his current level of productivity about 10 years ago, on average. The combination of those 2 effects could explain the approximately-13-year delay between the mass adoption of television and the start of the stagnation.
Another argument against consuming fiction: at least a few luminaries believe that human progress has stagnated since about 1970. An extremely popular and potent form and vehicle for fiction, namely, television, became a mass phenomenon in the US in the 1950s (and a little later in the rest of the world). The most productive members of society are relatively busy and also (because of their higher status and higher incomes) have relatively good access to enjoyable experiences, making them relatively less receptive to a new form of enjoyable experience. Also, it is plausible that a very productive person will have acquired the knowledge behind his current level of productivity about 10 years ago, on average. The combination of those 2 effects could explain the approximately-13-year delay between the mass adoption of television and the start of the stagnation.
Yeah, my computer has hardly improved from 1970′s ones.