Regarding arts in general, including (fiction) books:
Why should I let someone else influence my view of the world? Even more importantly, why should I let them do it in a subtle way, as if expecting surprises or good ideas from movies/books/... was fun? Why not simply read technical (even philosophy could be considered "technical" [unless I'm misusing that word]) book on different topics, from relevant authors, and let my imagination fly, instead of reading a book about some imaginary people that live some fantastic life, just to let the author push for his ideas in my life?
Science fiction is the thing that kinda makes a difference here, because they at least propose some new stuff, namely, completely different worlds, worlds that follow different social logics.
This is why I don't watch movies or read non-technical books. I sometimes watch documentaries, knowing that the authors *are* trying to influence my views. Same for newspapers.
Explain to me, why do you enjoy letting random people influence you through books without a declaration of intentions?
Brayden Williams
Because I'm not an autist
Austin Davis
The diagnosis is in: severe autism.
Justin Watson
Because thats how humans work, dumbo. 'You' is just a compilation of ideas that influenced your brain. Might as well get influenced by the best
Dylan Allen
Most people are smart or neurotypical enough to read into the themes and messages of a work and be objective enough to contemplate them regardless of whether or not they were entertained on a conventional level.
desu, is not being able to enjoy fictional stories the biggest sign of autism there is?
Brandon Lee
OP here
actually, wasting time reading useless (as opposed to useful...) books/watching stupid movies is what I'd call "autism"
>'You' is just a compilation of ideas that influenced your brain. I know this, this is rather obvious.
>Might as well get influenced by the best which is what I'm saying: >even philosophy could be considered "technical" I'm talking about fiction books, movies, fake news from mainstream media, etc. What I'm trying to say is: fiction books are like a dumb puzzle that you have to resolve to understand the motivations of the author, all while being influenced by him, knowingly or not. Might as well read philosophy books and learn about some ideology or whatever instead of wasting time.
>Because thats how humans work Tell me about it...
Christopher Ward
>is not being able to enjoy fictional stories the biggest sign of autism there is?
This.
Juan Cooper
autist
Joseph Bailey
>is not being able to enjoy fictional stories the biggest sign of autism there is? so, you prefer to replace your own imagination with stories told by someone else.
Christian Rodriguez
Guess what man, if the majority of the world has autism, then only the ones without autism have autism.
AKA you.
Ryder Nelson
Yes. There are better storytellers out there
Eli Cox
There are creative elements to reading stories. If there wasn't, literary criticism wouldn't exist because everyone would have the exact same thoughts on a literary work.
Blake Gutierrez
>replace
Try expand, you fucking autist.
I honestly feel sorry for you if you can't even appreciate the most simple piece of artwork.
Noah Phillips
This is how mankind has lived since the beginning of time, fucktard. Only someone with immense levels of narcissism and arrogance could claim that their imagination is infinitely better than every single person in history
Daniel Walker
OR you could try researching real things, or, hell, living. biology, for example, is awesome, you can learn a lot from it, there are lots of different things to see, yet you don't need someone to "expand" your imagination (of course there is also an author, but nature itself is your "storyteller")
Levi Clark
I bet you dissect cats in your backyard.
Adrian Jackson
You sound like you are literally 14. Do you honestly believe yourself to be more intelligent than people like Homer, Camus, Hemmingway, Dickens, etc?
Asher Sullivan
... no? and who said I care anyway? I didn't even say anything about intelligence. did you never learn this thing called logic? these things aren't related, and that's not even my point in this thread.
nah, biology books, scientific news websites, scientific articles and videos from youtube are enough.
Jayden Cruz
That's what you're implying though. You're saying that you are so intelligent that you have absolutely nothing to learn or gain from any single piece of fiction ever written in history, no matter what the subject or content.
Lincoln Myers
no, I'm saying I don't want writers influence me without my permission, and that having to interpret them as if it was a puzzle is dumb. also, and I didn't mention this before... it bothers me that writers are clearly egocentric (they take themselves as references to influence other people), and people idolize them. doing so is completely stupid, imo. if you will idolize people, at least do it from what they do, not from what they say.
Wyatt Hughes
also... you can learn a lot more, and a lot faster, from technical books
Austin Gomez
You're the egocentric one. You believe that your mind is so complete that even looking at a piece of fiction would sully you in some way.
Blake Bell
>I don't want writers influence me without my permission
lol
Justin Thompson
Learning lists of facts is meaningless. Grant someone a photographic memory and they can learn every fact they ever see, but comprehending and understanding isn't something you'll find in a textbook.
Justin Kelly
So what you're saying is that you would rather someone tell you outright what to think than have to interpret it on your own? Sounds like you'd much rather someone just take over your thoughts. All you enjoy are objective truths, which shows your mind is so immature it can't handle actual thought.
Adrian Foster
>I don't want writers influence me without my permission
And yet you'll allow scientists and philosophers to do the same thing, the only distinction being the particular way they express their ideas? That seems a rather arbitrary demarcation as to whether or not the idea is valid.
It seems your stigma is based on the stereotypical "hipster writer" personality than anything inherent in literature itself.
Wyatt Davis
>Learning lists of facts is meaningless exactly. you went to basic school, you are supposed to have learned basic stuff there. then, you use that knowledge, your life experiences, your imagination, etc, to interpret it and give it a meaning, or some utility.
but that's also not really true... technical books will interpret things for you, from the very basics. you are the one supposed to learn these things however you can/want, and give it more deep meanings, find different interpretations (you can't explain the physical world in rigid terms), etc.
see ^
>And yet you'll allow scientists and philosophers to do the same thing, the only distinction being the particular way they express their ideas? That seems a rather arbitrary demarcation as to whether or not the idea is valid. >It seems your stigma is based on the stereotypical "hipster writer" personality than anything inherent in literature itself. you are right, I base my beliefs on this stereotype. because, I tihnk, why else would people write fiction books (say, novels, drama, etc.)?
Cameron Rivera
Don't read fiction if you don't want to. You can be fine with just reading philosophy or whatever, it doesn't matter.
People like fiction because it's easier to be open-minded to ideas when they are in fiction. Pure philosophy is hard. Sometimes it's really difficult to see somebody's perspective even if you can clearly see their words and the line of their argument. Words mean different things to different people, and fiction serves to close that gap between words and what they mean by describing the human experience they represent. You may well be capable of seeing another person's words through their perspective, and so fiction might not be useful for you, but it is at least useful for other people.
Landon Gomez
Are you afraid of your beliefs being challenged?
Thomas Miller
ok. ok. wow. just... ok. please kill yourself.
Charles Johnson
op is 14
Daniel Young
OK, thanks for explaining. most people in this board seem to be unable to think that you can have imagination/an opinion without reading fiction...
no, but if you'll try to convince me of something, I prefer to understand your thoughts and the logic behind them, because that'll give me a "why", and also much more information about your intentions. for example, if you are trying to sell some ideology, I should understand what's your idea of a good society, why you think some things make sense, etc
Parker Williams
>, I should understand what's your idea of a good society, why you think some things make sense, etc
these can all be represented in a fictional story
Zachary Brooks
you need to interpret them... and you can interpret them however you want, according to your background, etc. you know, we don't all live in the same society, you shouldn't assume too much. it also gets difficult if you don't already know some of the context behind the fictional story, and it gets boring if you do, so... better make your ideas clear from the start.