[ExI] [Extropolis] Religion

[Keith Henson]

On Sun, Aug 11, 2024 at 2:12 PM BillK via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

snip

> As you say, in humans, your life depended on being a member of your tribe.
> Lone wolves had a hard time surviving. Though this is less significant
> in modern society.

It is worth remembering that humans are *social* primates.

> The current problems in the US and Europe seem to be because these
> countries have split into two major tribes with very different
> cultural beliefs. (Plus several minor groups as well). This can't be
> due to genetics, as they all have inherited similar tribal genetics.
> It must be due to different culture or memes that have taken root in
> the different groups.

That is correct.  But there is an underlying factor here.  Some parts
of the country are doing ok, and the majority of the people are
reasonably satisfied with the way things are going.  Other parts are
not so happy and see a bleak future.  These are currently associated
with the political parties.

In the tribal days, a bleak future was normally the signal to cut the
population back either by attacking neighbors or some subgroup of your
tribe.  We still have the genes for the psychological traits to start
wars because the math works out that genes do better going to war than
they do starving.  One of those psychological traits is to spread
xenophobic memes about either neighbors or some subgroup.

Incidentally, it is not needed for the situation to get absolutely
bad, but just relatively worse than it was to set off problems..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini has a good deal to say
about this though he credits someone else.  His major book is easy to
recast into evolutionary psychology terms.  Long as I have mentioned
him, will cc this post to him

> I don't see how these different cultures can be resolved.
> Perhaps by gradual changes over generations.

Memes can come and go much faster than genes.  Remember this whole
MAGA/Trump business started not that many years ago.

As an example, the IRA went out of business as the economy (income per
capita) picked up when the Irish women cut the number of kids to
replacement.

In any case, technological progress will change things beyond belief
in far less than a generation.

Keith


Keith

> BillK
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