Most stories—from ancient myths to modern action movies—follow a strict moral arc where "good" is rewarded and "evil" is punished. This reinforces the social contracts that allow large groups of humans to live together peacefully.
Nightly dreams are perhaps the purest form of storytelling. Gottschall notes that dreams are almost always about trouble , serving as a nightly rehearsal for survival. The Social Glue
Gottschall suggests that we live in a permanent state of "Neverland." Even when we aren't consuming media, our minds are constantly narrating our lives. This isn't a defect; it’s an evolutionary advantage.
Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal explores the idea that humans are "evolutionary anomalies" because we spend so much of our lives in fictional worlds. From dreams and children’s play to novels and Netflix binges, Gottschall argues that storytelling isn't just a pastime—it’s a biological necessity that defines our species. The Biology of "Neverland"