Given that I'm only reading this post after following a long chain of fanfiction which lead me to Methods of Rationality, I have to disagree.
In fact, I'd hazard a guess that if we surveyed all of the readers on this site, we'd find a very strong tendency toward fiction reading when compared to the general population.
The brittish cohort study famously found that reading for pleasure in childhood is one of the most important factors for childhood development. https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/briefings_impact/?s=&filter=1&and=1&post_type=briefings_impact&studies[]=&types[]=impact-case-studies
Additionally, I'm very aware that a majority of my moral values are derived from fiction. The Sword of Truth series probably shaped my political leanings more strongly than my grade school social studies classes did.... (read more)
Given that I'm only reading this post after following a long chain of fanfiction which lead me to Methods of Rationality, I have to disagree. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that if we surveyed all of the readers on this site, we'd find a very strong tendency toward fiction reading when compared to the general population. The brittish cohort study famously found that reading for pleasure in childhood is one of the most important factors for childhood development. https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/briefings_impact/?s=&filter=1&and=1&post_type=briefings_impact&studies[]=&types[]=impact-case-studies Additionally, I'm very aware that a majority of my moral values are derived from fiction. The Sword of Truth series probably shaped my political leanings more strongly than my grade school social studies classes did.... (read more)