[ExI] [Extropolis] trump

[William Flynn Wallace]

In some African tribes paranoid schizophrenia is highly prized.  They see
and hear hallucinations which the rest of us don't.  Ergo - they are in
touch with the spirit world and are made the spiritual leader in the tribe,
often called the witch doctor (a powerful position - he can order witches
to be killed or kicked out of the tribe).  So the witch doctor only is able
to deal with actions taken by the spirits and communicate with them.  I say
this is a religion.  bill w

On Wed, Aug 23, 2023 at 5:48 AM John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 21, 2023 at 10:38 PM Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>
>> * > What is a religion?  What evolutionary selection, direct or indirect,
>> caused humans to be able to have a religion?  I think it is a side effect
>> of the selection for war.  YMMY, I would like to know if you can account
>> for religions in another way.*
>
>
> I don't know for a fact that religion confers any genetic advantage, it
> could be an evolutionary spandrel. But assuming for the sake of argument
> that it is not, I have a few ideas why no culture is devoid of a history of
> religion. The most obvious explanation is fear of death but I have
> another.  In general it would be a Evolutionary advantage for children to
> listen to and believe what adults, particularly parents, have to say; don't
> eat those berries they will kill you, don't swim in that river, there are
> crocodiles, etc. Most people may not be born with innate religious feelings
> and visions but some have a brain abnormality and are psychotic, so they
> teach their children as if these psychotic visions are true and the
> children believe them.
>
>  And when those children grow up they in turn teach their children those
> screwy beliefs, and that's why religious belief displays such a strong
> geographical pattern, that's why all religions want to start indoctrinating
> children when they are as young as possible, they want to start "educating"
> them before their critical thinking abilities become more developed. So the
> root cause of religion may be that most people have a tendency (which
> started out as an advantage) to believe into adulthood whatever they were
> told as children.And thus ridiculous religious ideas (Noah's ark) start
> small but then grow to gargantuan size in just a few generations.
>
>   John K Clark
>
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