Storytelling is often described as the most fundamental vehicle for making sense among humans. This is how information is often passed between individuals and groups. The bible is rife with stories, and so is any other book of its kind. The word “story” is often used as a synonym for “narrative.” However, human penchant for storytelling involves a danger, the so-called narrative fallacy. This fallacy has to do with the human tendency to simplify the information presented by narratives on account of the human preference for short stories rather than longwinded and complex explanations. Although easily remembered, as well as passed on to others, stories or short narratives are therefore often misleading as guides for action. Now, if this narrative is clear up to this point, be warned that it itself is subject to the narrative fallacy.

Addendum I (December 11, 2016)

The notion of narrative fallacy gained popularity with The Black Swan (2007) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He gave it a special place in his own narrative. Most explanations of the phenomenon are convoluted beyond comprehension, though. My rendering of it is right on the money, I reckon. And it focuses on human love of stories, which grace every single book of old, such as the bible. The shorter, the better. Say, a couple of hundred words. Whence the fallacy, of course. Simply put, few things are simple enough to fit the favorite format. But the underlying problem has little if anything to do with the story as such; rather, it has to do with limited intelligence of the human species. And this is precisely why humans go for stories in the first place. Once again, human stupidity is at the root of all troubles that the species faces. My apologies if this explanation is a dash too long…

Addendum II (March 15, 2026)

Having stumbled upon this piece of writing and the addendum extending it entirely by chance, I am surprised by the urge to extend it one more time. Stories have been with the human species from its beginning, but novels are relatively new. And novels have outpaced stories a few centuries ago due to the rise of literacy. No matter how longwinded and complex, though, they do not remove the narrative fallacy. Actually, they only raise it to a higher power. A story takes a few pages while a novel takes a few hundred pages, but this is hardly enough to avoid simplifications of all sorts. In addition, novels often involve breathtaking tomfooleries that do not even resemble real lives. And this is where limited intelligence of the human species gets bamboozled over and over again. Humans of higher intelligence have no trouble rounding off short stories to their satisfaction, but long novels can occasionally confuse even the brightest among them. Alas, human stupidity is unbounded! Anyhow, my additional apologies if this explanation is way too long.