I totally agree that actions in response to fictions can be painfully (or wonderfully) real. And fiction driving action is basically how intelligence evolves. But sometimes I think it’s healthy to step back and admit that all of these things, even though the actions they drive are very real, are themselves not real at all. The moment we stop believing in them they just disappear.

And then contrast such things with actual things. If I’m walking home in the rain I can stop believing in rain all I want, I’m still getting wet.