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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 22, 2018 7:48 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] de Waal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222;background:white'>So at some time in our evolutionary past, the</span><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#222222'><br><span style='background:white'>trait for religion (or something linked with it) must have been</span><br><span style='background:white'>valuable to our genes. keith</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white'>>…<span style='color:#222222'> No need for a push from genetics.</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;background:white'>>…<span style='color:#222222'>A far more difficult thing, in my opinion, is the origin of the concept of the immortal soul. I am working on that one</span>…<span style='color:#222222'>bill w</span></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Eh, that is an easy one too: the kings and nobles needed some means of convincing the young men to go out and risk death on the field of battle. They offered them honor (which has its costs in a sense), and in some cases land (which is expensive.) But to offer them 72 virgins or an eternal afterlife was cheap.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Somewhere in this discussion I am looking for the notion that religious people work together well as a team.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>