[ExI] Atheist Prayer?

[BillK]

On Wed, 15 Mar 2023 at 14:23, Darin Sunley via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> The evidence of the 90's, 2000's, and 2010's is that when a nation state runs out of external enemies, its citizenry turn on each other, along lines of race and/or class. Subtly at first, in polarized public opinions, debates, and politics. Only later in actual violence.
>
> Ask the Rwandans how Kaku's "The End of History" went. [It'll be a smaller task than it used to be.]
> _______________________________________________


I think there might be more basic psychological reasons than that.
When we feel that things are getting out of control, enemies may be
filling important needs in our lives, giving us scapegoats to blame,
common enemies to unite over, and a simplified cause behind complex
problems.
Rather than accepting that bad things sometimes happen for no reason,
having an enemy gives us a feeling of control. We can then attribute
the bad things to someone else. The bonds within our own group grow
stronger and we feel better about our group, in comparison to those
evil 'others'.
The disruption caused by the approaching Singularity will increasingly
demonstrate these schisms in society.


BillK