The Tinkerbell Effect – Worthy Fictions for the 21st Century

Posted on by Opher

I was told that my views on the fictions we believe in and their decay was depressing.

I do not believe that.

I just think we need better fictions and I believe in the Tinkerbell effect. If we believe hard enough we can make things great.

We need better fictions for the 21st Century.

I think it is quite easy to see that the things people believe in are human constructs that have no reality; they are fictions we created long ago:

God – a superbeing that there is no evidence for but believed in by people;

A country – an artificially created area of land arbitrarily agreed on by people;

A Monarch/President – an ordinary human being elevated by birth or election into a position of power by people;

Money – pieces of worthless paper given value to by people.

These are indeed fictions that only possess power because they are believed in.

My contention is that many people no longer believe in these things like they used to. Hence the cohesion of society is failing and we are becoming divided.

I think people can find things that they can collectively believe in such as:

The protection of nature

The worth of all human beings

And while these new beliefs would indeed be fictions created by man they do have the power if people believe in them. It’s the Tinkerbell effect.

I see nothing depressing about it. We just need better fictions for a secular 21st century.

6 thoughts on “The Tinkerbell Effect – Worthy Fictions for the 21st Century”

  3. You got me thinking again, Opher. So many of our current fictions are tragically wrong. We enshrine inequality in royal families, privileged wealthy, and wage/salary structures. The disparities exist because we DO NOT believe in the equality of all human beings. Let’s consider for a moment the aftermath of a natural disaster. Who are the people who clear away the debris, look after the survivors, and rebuild the homes and infrastructure to return things to normal? The highest salaried among us? the super wealthy? Royalty? Yet, everyone praises the first responders and those who work hard to put a community back together. Nice… I guess. We need to change our screwed up values.

    1. Cheers John – you illustrate it well. We value and reward the wrong people.
      It’s time we sort our priorities and fictions out!

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