WEBVTT 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.976 Emily Dickinson said over a century ago, 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.810 that there is no frigate like a book to take us lands away, 00:00:18.834 --> 00:00:19.976 and it's true. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.976 When we pick up a book, turn on the TV, or watch a movie, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.976 We're carried away down the currents of story into a world of imagination. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.976 And when we land, on a shore that is both new and familiar, 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.976 something strange happens. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.976 Stepping on to the shore, we're changed. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.976 We don't retrace the footsteps of the authors or characters we followed here: 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.976 no. Instead we walk a mile in their shoes. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:46.976 Researchers in psychology, neuroscience, child development, and biology 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.976 are finally starting to gain quantifiable scientific evidence 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.976 showing what writers and readers have always known: 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.976 That stories have a unique ability to change a person's point of view. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.976 Scholars are discovering evidence that stories shape culture 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.000 and that much of what we believe about life comes not from fact 00:01:03.024 --> 00:01:05.976 but from fiction, that our ideas 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.976 of class, marriage, and even gender 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.976 are relatively new, and that many ideologies which held fast for centuries 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.976 were revised within the 18th century, and re-drafted in the pages of the early novel. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:20.976 Imagine a world where class, and not hard work, decide a person's worth. 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.976 A world where women are simply men's more untamed copy. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.976 A world where marriage for love is a novel notion. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.976 Well, that was the world in which Samuel Richardson's Pamela first appeared. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.976 Richardson's love story starred a poor, serving-class heroine 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.976 who is both morally superior and smarter than her upper-class suitor. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.048 The book, challenging a slew of traditions, 00:01:42.072 --> 00:01:43.976 caused quite a ruckus. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.976 There was more press for Pamela than for Parliament. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.976 It spawned intense debate and several counter-novels. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.286 Still, for all those who couldn't accept Pamela, 00:01:52.310 --> 00:01:54.976 others were eager for this new fictional world. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.976 This best-seller, and all its literary heirs, 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.976 Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and yes, even Twilight, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.976 Have continuously shared the same tale, and taught similar lessons 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.048 which are now conventional and commonplace. 00:02:07.072 --> 00:02:09.976 Similarly, novels have helped shape the minds 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.976 of thought leaders across history. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.429 Some scholars say that Darwin's Theory of Evolution 00:02:14.453 --> 00:02:16.976 is highly indebted to the plots he read and loved. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:18.976 His theory privileges intelligence, 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.976 swiftness, and adaptability to change-all core characteristics in a hero. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.976 Whether you're reading Harry Potter or Great Expectations, 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.976 you're reading the kind of plot that inspired Darwin. 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.286 Yet recent studies show that his theory might not be the whole story, 00:02:32.310 --> 00:02:35.976 our sense of being a hero-one man, or one woman, or even one species 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.976 taking on the challenges of the world might be wrong. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.096 Instead of being hard-wired for competition, 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:44.976 for being the solitary heroes in our own story, 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.976 we might instead be members of a shared quest. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:50.976 More Hobbit than Harry. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.976 Sometimes, of course, the shoes we've been walking in can get plain worn out. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.976 After all, we haven't walked just one mile in Jane Austen or Mark Twain's shoes, 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.976 we've walked about a hundred trillion miles in them. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:03.976 This isn't to say that we can't read and enjoy the classics, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.976 we should travel with Dickens, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.239 let Pip teach us what to expect from ourselves, 00:03:08.263 --> 00:03:11.976 have a talk with Austen and Elizabeth about our prides and prejudices. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.286 We should float with Twain down the Mississippi, 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:16.976 and have Jim show us what it means to be good. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.976 But on our journey, we should also keep in mind 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.976 that the terrain has changed. We'll start shopping around for boots 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.976 that were made for walking into a new era. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.976 Take, for instance, Katniss Everdeen and her battle with the Capitol. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.286 Can Hunger Games lead us into thinking about capitalism in a new way? 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:36.976 Can it teach us a lesson about why the individual should not put herself before the group? 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.976 Will Uglies reflect the dangers of pursuing a perfect body 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.239 and letting the media define what is beautiful? 00:03:42.263 --> 00:03:44.976 Will Seekers trod a path beyond global warming? 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.976 Will the life and death struggles of Toklo, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.524 Kallik, Lusa, and the other bears chart a course for understanding animals 00:03:51.548 --> 00:03:52.976 and our place in their world? 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:56.239 Only the future will tell which stories will engage our imagination, 00:03:56.263 --> 00:03:59.976 which tales of make-believe we'll make tomorrow, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.976 but the good news is this: 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.976 There are new stories to venture in every day. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.976 New tales that promise to influence, to create, and to spark change. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.976 Stories that you might even write yourself. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.976 So I guess the final question is this: 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 what story will you try on next?