A lot of people ask me why I read so much fantasy and science fiction. Here goes an off-the-cuff, rambling answer-

I believe that humans are designed to feed off, and essentially live off, vicarious pleasure. Most humans cannot be satiated by their own experiences, which is why they build associations - with family(especially children!), friends, city, country, whatever. As our bonds with these entities external to us becomes stronger, we extract a higher percentage of our own fulfillment from their experiences. And our brain does a pretty good job filling in the gaps by using our imagination when we try to live through another person. Therefore the pleasure we derive from things like the success of sports teams and in extreme cases, with celebrity obsession.

But human experience is by definition going to be infinitesimal. Our collective knowledge is restricted to vague remembrances of our past and guesses about the future about the infinitesimal portion of space we inhabit. I cannot put in words the frustration I suffer at our collective inability to ever perceive or even know of the wonders imminent in the expanse of time and space? Doesn't everyone else experience the excruciating curiosity of how the human race ends? How is that day? What are people thinking? And what do worlds look like when that happens. And what about the rest of the bloody freaking universe? What unforgettable stories are being written in the perhaps infinite other civilizations out there?

My life is based in the most interesting universe that can be. But I am destined to experience an insignificant portion of it and have absolutely no closure in the most interesting story I know. Therefore I turn to the other numerous universes I have at my disposal. Those of imaginary worlds, described in great detail, with nuanced characters who I can almost believe exist. And worlds which actually have closure, where I know how the story ends. Of course, there is a sense of emptiness once the story does end, there is the curiosity of what is happening in that world once the story is ended, but that pales in comparison to the dissatisfied curiosity about our own universe.And I believe that everyone who believes in religion does the same - they believe in the existence of a very detailed fantasy story with idealized protagonists. And they hold that imaginary protagonist up as a torch for their own identity and by living vicariously through this "perfect" person, they make up for their own imperfections. The only trick of religion is to superimpose this imaginary universe on our real one to give people an escape route since they cannot justify basing real life actions on an imagined universe.

I don't believe in any other universe or anything that ultimately requires a leap of faith. But I don't see why their absence of existence should inhibit my enjoyment of them. In fact, by actually not existing they free my mind in ways they couldn't have if they actually existed.