Even if stories are selected for plausibility, truth and whatever else leads most directly to maximal reward only once in a while, that would probably still be equivalent to Bayesian updating, just interfered by an enormous amount of noise.
I don't think you can justify using the word "equivalent" like that. I think maybe you mean "evolution and memetics are similar to Bayesian updating in some ways". That is not the same thing as "equivalence". It is not really helpful to take a very specific thing and say that it is "equivalent" to other very very different things, especially if such a comparison does not help you make any predictions.
My culture has a story in it that the Creator of the Universe is going to come down in the form of a man and destroy t... (read more)