When it comes to uniting people around a common story, fiction actually enjoys three inherent advantages over the truth. The second huge advantage of fiction over truth has to do with the handicap principle, which says that reliable signals must be costly to the signaler. This is a reliable signal of fitness, because the tail is heavy, cumbersome and attracts predators. But believing ridiculous and outlandish stories exacts greater cost, and is therefore a better signal of loyalty. An American presidential candidate who tells the American public the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about American history has a 100 percent guarantee of losing the elections.

Source: New York Times May 24, 2019 15:01 UTC