This week’s EconTalk is with Frank Rose about his fascinating book, The Art of Immersion which tells the story of how the web interacts with storytelling, movies, videogames, and advertising. I really enjoyed the conversation.
In the book, Rose describes how technology lets viewers and readers create their own story and affect the narrative. A primitive version of this took place in the 19th century when the readers of Dickens’s novels which were released in serial form, reacted to the story as it unfolded and affected how Dickens worked on his novel. The modern versions of this are much more dramatic and allow readers and viewers to immerse themselves in a narrative in ways that were not possible in the past.
In the podcast, Rose mentioned how we all like to create our own narrative. I realized how much this applies to sports and yes, especially to macroeconomics, a topic we went on to explore a bit in the conversation. Check it out. That part of the conversation reminded me of Ed Leamer.