The Pleasures of Imagination

Why do humans prefer to be a part of unreal worlds?

One solution to this puzzle is that the pleasures of the imagination exist because they hijack mental systems that have evolved for real-world pleasure. We enjoy imaginative experiences because at some level we don’t distinguish them from real ones. This is a powerful idea, one that I think is basicallyathough not entirelyaright. (Certain phenomena, including horror movies and masochistic daydreams, require a different type of explanation.)

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