How to Avoid the Tribal Trap of Stories

A new piece of mine was featured in Areo Magazine. Here is a synopsis:

In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari highlights the importance of stories (religious, national, etc…) as the basis for human cooperation and of our modern societies. Stories are able to fill that role because of the way they shape how we think and provide shared morals. Cognitive research shows that we use analogy-based mental models to interpret and understand our reality. However we have seen that stories can also fuel tribalistic attitudes and dogmatism. Pointing out the parallels between mental and scientific models, this piece highlights the lessons we can learn from the scientific method in improving our reasoning and development of moral values.

Read the full article here:

https://areomagazine.com/2018/10/22/how-to-avoid-the-tribal-trap-of-stories-a-scientific-approach-to-the-way-we-think/