Defense Dept. Research Arm DARPA Tackles Storytime | Fast Company

Defense Dept. Research Arm DARPA Tackles Storytime | Fast Company: "Once upon a time, DARPA wanted to work out how stories played a role in sharing information between people who are engaged in political activity, and possibly how to change the direction of the course of events.

More accurately: On Feb. 28, DARPA is hosting a think-tank-style workshop to tackle 'Analysis and Decomposition of Narratives in Security Contexts' as part of its Stories, Neuroscience, and Experimental Technologies (STORyNET) program. Jargon aside, it's really like the bedtime version of 1984's Thought Police.

As DARPA notes, 'stories exert a powerful influence on human thoughts and behavior. They consolidate memory, shape emotions, cue heuristics and biases in judgment, influence in-group/out-group distinctions, and may affect the fundamental contents of personal identity.' Sure the research group leapfrogs the argument that narratives played a vital role in early human survival (allowing transfer of best-practise knowledge) and modern social evolution (as in the Bible, Koran)."