Science of fiction

I've just sat in on a presentation at the Canadian Reading Summit by one of the editors of OnFiction, an online scientific journal devoted to understanding the psychology of fiction reading. It was an incredibly exciting look into the neurology of fiction as an "embodied simulation." The journal looks like great reading.

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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phltration

Knew something like this had to exist. I’ve often ranted about how reading fiction is just just agreeing to be lied to. The more convincing the liar’s lies the better.
- octopod
  
  I don’t quite follow you, pretending or imagining something doesn’t feel the same, at least to me. regardless of intent-to-deceive issues, the simplest example would be a piece of fiction set in the future, you have no way of knowing if it’s true or not, so it fails to be a lie.
Annie Kidder

I was at the conference too.
What the researcher (Raymod Marr)said is that narrative fiction is a simulation of social experience that runs on our mind – or “it’s the software that runs on our mind’s hardware.” The point he was making had to do with contemplating the link between reading and civil society. He said civil society had three overarching facets(civic engagement, caring and empathetic populace, the use of reason over force)Then he linked reading with each facet.
Anonymous

Cory – these posts are a sweet kind of torture; telling us about fascinating presentations that we can’t share (no audio, video, or even blogged summary)! Argh!
phltration

octopod – On the outside of the book, if it says Fiction, I tend to believe that. If a piece of fiction is set in the future it might be true? When? Today or in the future? I’m “Lost” (Wednesdays on ABC)
- octopod
  
  woah, this morning was an awful long time ago. it was basically I didn’t think your use of lie/liar was relevant.
  
  I’d think to lie is to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive. I don’t think there’s any intent to deceive in a work of fiction, so I was more interested in the ‘untrue statement’ part. sure, a work of fiction set in the past is an untrue statement, but if it’s set in the future, true/untrue doesn’t have any meaning. or something like that.
phltration

Well, fiction is not true. Dorothy does not go to the land of OZ. The opposite of true is false. An intentional falsehood is a lie. What is the cumulative effect of all the lies we willingly consume? Are we so wrapped up in all of our tall tales that it becomes harder to discern fact from fiction? Can you imagine trying to be President of a country drunk on fiction?
- octopod
  
  ok, we’re coming at it from different sides. I’d say there’s true, false and undecidable, in both rl and mathematical logic.