From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Oct 25 2001 - 16:34:12 MDT
Having a neural "vulnerability" for religion might not be an
evolutionary benefit in tiself, but simply a side effect of some other
desirable trait. For example, the ability to detect agency in events
around you helps to understand the social environment we live in, not to
mention to figure out that there is somebody actively trying to hurt you
with those thrown rocks - but that ability would also make you attribute
agency to non-human processes like lightening and fire. A
meaning-detection system in the brain makes a lot of sense for cognition
(helps focus on important things), and if it suffers epileptic
stimulation you get religious bliss - but the bliss is not anything
evolution has selected for.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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