Prof. Bronstein sees reading fictional narratives as a way of becoming aware of the way we see our lives, too, as narratives. In that recognition lies the possibility of choosing between competing ways of telling the story, or even of inventing a new narrative. This is abstract, and therefore difficult to apply to specific instances. An example she gives is of a play by Tony Kushner in which German leftists living in 1931 try to imagine what lies ahead for them, and what they should do about it. we witness them crafting a narrative about their past and current situation, unaware of what is to come in Hitler's rise, which the audience knows very well. Thus we can see the strengths and weaknesses of their various stories about themselves and their situation. The play might inspire us in the audience to think about the ways we act, or fail to act, based upon the story we tell ourselves about ourselves and our moment in history.

Hmmmm... this fired a neuron; nudged a ventricle. My wife is impatient with other drivers. A friend got her an amulet. The caption reads: keep calm, and drive on. Good advice.

Random Thought:
我们很多人都听过“大海捞针”的谚语。据我所知，没有任何关于针头是如何到达那里的背景故事。然而，这句话的含义很清楚:即使不是不可能，找到针也会很困难。我们先不谈这个想法。另一个类似的难题是彩票中奖。也很困难。一场比赛的赔率是1300万分之一。,或者,微乎其微。好的。在一堆干草中重新寻找针，胜算似乎并没有那么大。与游戏中给出的概率不同的是，干草远不是无限的。 We could further predict success if we knew the size of the needle, and had a powerful electromagnet or other equipment at our disposal. The needle in the haystack conundrum is old. Many things we now have at the ready did not then exist. As for the lottery, the numbers do not lie. Thirteen million, give or take a few, goes far nearer to infinity than the other scenario.

I'll play the lottery though. The needle, more attainable, is not worth much. Read this in conjunction with the posts on algorithims and science overreach..