Why do people make things up?

According to Carl Shulman on The Lunar Society, people generally have a hard time maintaining false narratives because the truth is inherently consistent and easier to remember. When someone tries to fabricate a story, they need to remember new, invented details that weren't precomputed by the world, making it challenging to keep everything coherent without leaks. Shulman also highlights that humans have evolved moral motivations such as reluctance to commit violence or exploitation. These moral tendencies have been favored evolutionarily because maintaining trustworthiness is easier when one is genuinely trustworthy 1.

This difficulty in maintaining falsehoods and the evolutionary advantage of truthfulness and moral behavior contribute to why people might fabricate stories, yet often fail to maintain them consistently.