From: Sasha Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Date: Sat Dec 25 1999 - 16:48:30 MST
At 12:35 PM 99/12/25 , J. R. Molloy wrote:
>CurtAdams wrote,
> >By the "god-shaped-void" theory, most people have a deep and profound
> >urge to believe in some sort of religion.
I take the liberty of reposting my earlier message on the subject
(from June '97):
>To: extropians@extropy.org
>From: Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko <sasha1@netcom.com>
>Subject: Re: Earth to God? - Religion based on instinct?
>
>I think religion may have genetic roots.
>
> Behaving like there is "somebody out there" to watch after you, may
>be an instinct among all young animals. Many genetically programmed
>emotional expressions - such as crying - are directly based on the
>expectation that there is some Benevolent Observer/Caregiver out
>there who would notice you and do some "magic" to improve things.
>
> I do not think this instinct is explicitly directed at parents: in
>many cases, young animals may have trouble identifying or locating
>their parents; also, help may come from other relatives and tribe
>members. Rather, the instinct may be simple: assume that there is
>Some Big Smart Entity out there to do things for you, express your
>concerns - and they will be addressed.
>
> There is such a big evolutionary advantage in having this Reliance
>on Big Benevolent Force mechanism that it seems to be the most
>important surviving technique for an infant.
>
> There doesn't seem to be that much utility in eradicating this
>instinct after the baby grows up. Some parts of it, e.g., public
>expression of emotions, may be of use later, as the society is
>usually somewhat compassionate. Other expressions - like crying
>alone - may be just an exploitation of the old mechanism that
>gives a baby some immediate reward (feeling of relief) after
>it cries for help.
> The same may be true about dreaming of the a Big Superior Helper.
>Pray/cry to it, and you will get some relief. The relief is given
>just by the babyish neural circuit, and is temporary, while the
>call for help is futile and based on an invalid extension of the
>childhood's reliance on superior adults - but so what? A wrong
>belief in the head of an old animal will do little harm to the
>evolutionary process. It may even be helpful - the sickly adult
>would occupy itself with crying instead of getting off its butt
>and looking for resources, while its offsprings will enjoy the
>saved resources, and try to stay closer to those adults who don't
>exhibit signs of weakness.
>
> Maybe, it would also be useful for social development if those
>weak in the head would spent their time trying to obtain assistance
>from God rather than from other people. However, by some perversion,
>they often use the idea of God to extract support from their neighbors...
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sasha Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:06:12 MST