It could be that it is our brain that makes us listen to these stories and react out loud, to calibrate our sensitivities with those of our group.

It isn’t the story that really matters, but the vocal reactions of approval and disapproval of the people around us. They tell us how we should think to function well in the group.

Having automated the tribal storyteller with a TV set, we are still attracted to the same stories. But without the group around us, it has become a bit of a waste of time. And the canned laughter in the Seinfeld episodes is only a poor substitute..

For more on this, go to
http://adriaanb.blogspot.com/