Gay Laser to Destroy Humanity. Story at 10.

[honorentheos]

Hi Schmo,

But we need to dig deeper to try to get at any underlying meta-narratives involved. I'd suggest asking the question, "What ultimate end is being enabled or frustrated when people fail to engage reality in the same way?"

Progress is frustrated when people choose to believe stuff rather than let good, verifiable evidence dictate what they believe.

The natural next question here is, "Progress towards what?"

[Some Schmo]

Hi Schmo,

Progress is frustrated when people choose to believe stuff rather than let good, verifiable evidence dictate what they believe.

The natural next question here is, "Progress towards what?"

I meant progress toward a higher standard of living/quality of life for everyone. I realize this isn't everyone's goal, especially the people who benefit from inequality.

[honorentheos]

Hi Schmo,

The natural next question here is, "Progress towards what?"

I meant progress toward a higher standard of living/quality of life for everyone.

Ok, this is getting us closer to what the meta-narrative may look like that frames your worldview and the narratives you tell yourself and others. An aspect of this meta-narrative includes an ideal state of egalitarian living that becomes more accessable to more people over time as human history progresses forward. Part of the definition of a meta-narrative is that whatever it is, it is yet to be realized which gives it it's properties as "narrative". Even if you may be disillusioned with the prospect of the meta-narrative ever being realized, it still informs your beliefs, your interpretation of the world and how others are behaving.

I realize this isn't everyone's goal, especially the people who benefit from inequality.

This is a narrative that is derived from the interaction of the meta-narrative and your lived experience. It's a good example of a narrative, in fact, and may be helpful to the discussion when recognized as such.

[honorentheos]

Hi Schmo,

The natural next question here is, "Progress towards what?"

I meant progress toward a higher standard of living/quality of life for everyone. I realize this isn't everyone's goal, especially the people who benefit from inequality.

I should also point out that what helps show this is getting closer to meta-narrative is how it seemed like it should be understood without needing to be said. Like playing D&D, the rules we may discuss, character sheets content, or the stat blocks we know as players but may be unknown to our PCs are examples of information involved in metagaming. They describe the world to the players at this 4D relationship to the game world that the 3D PCs and NPCs encounter only through experience as "how the world works" or "how the world is". But players only experience this way things are when they engage the game. There is more to our world than the mechanics of D&D, and there are other games with other rules. The meta of the narrative is just why things are the way they are. People who share a meta-narrative don't need to justify the way things are to one another. They instead deal with explaining narratives as against this understood state of the world and where the world is naturally heading...or ought to be heading if people would stop messing things up.