[ExI] Origin of Religions was Terrorist? Who can tell?

[BillK]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 8:16 PM, hkhenson wrote:
> Longer version was printed
> http://www.mankindquarterly.org/summer2006_henson.html I can send you a copy
> of the .pdf if you want.
>
> If you have a better analysis of the selection forces that drove the
> psychological characteristics that result in what we see as religions don't
> keep it a secret.
<snip>
> But to get selection for some trait at all, you need the environment to have
> serious survival effects on gene frequencies.  People generally have filled
> the world to beyond capacity for all the time they existed.  Fighting
> between groups who exploited the environment was a major source of
> selection.  See Azar Gat on this subject.  Or consider the Old Testament.
>


A new paper, here:
<http://www.physorg.com/news140174454.html>

Quote:
Tribal war drove human evolution of aggression
By Lisa Zyga,
Wars are costly in terms of lives and resources – so why have we
fought them throughout human history? In modern times, states may
fight wars for a number of complex reasons. But in the past, most
tribal wars were fought for the most basic resources: goods,
territory, and women.
These reproduction-enhancing resources prompted our ancestors to fight
in order to pass down their family genes. With war as a driving force
for survival, an interesting pattern occurred, according to a new
study. People with certain warrior-like traits were more likely to
engage in and win wars, and then passed their warrior genes down to
their children, which – on an evolutionary timescale – made their
tribe even more warrior-like. In short, humans seem to have become
more aggressive over time due to war's essential benefits.
----------------


Basically saying that human males fight because in pre-history the
males who were worse at fighting didn't pass their genes on.  But they
are at a loss to explain why modern nations go to war.
(Except for obvious economic reasons).


BillK