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Spike Jones writes:
> I have a notion that I tried once before, but it didnt catch on: that > the first societies to invent god acheived a military advantage. the > alpha male could more successfully talk the others into fighting his > battles, robbing and raping the neighboring village if he could > say god told him to tell them if they died in battle, (or duringpillage,
> mid-rape, etc) then god would reward generously in the afterlife. > (And would punish in this life and the next, if they failed to > pillage, rape and rob the other village.) The invention of god > *might* be as simple as this: it made for more enthusiastic warriors.
I dont think god was invented to inspire warriors to fanatacism,it is a natural result of trying to learn ways of manipulating our environment.
I remember reading about an experiment performed on pigeons. A group of pigeons was placed in a room and at completely random intervals grain was dropped from the ceiling. Over quite a short period of time the pigeons started to move strangely, some holding one wing up, others keeping their heads down all the time, etc. This is where superstition/religion originates - it is natural (and intelligent) for us to try and control our environment for our own purposes. The pigeon walking around with one wing in the air was simply trying to conjure more food from the roof, as in it's experience the food had tended to fall when it had one wing in the air.
Obviously (hopefully) as beings become more intelligent and rational they will begin to realise that various kinds of superstitous behavior does not actually cause the desired results - any correspondence caused merely by chance.
Jon Reeves
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Spike Jones writes:
> I have a notion that I tried once before, but =
it didnt catch on: that
> the first societies to invent god acheived a =
military advantage. the
> alpha male could more successfully talk the =
others into fighting his
> battles, robbing and raping the neighboring =
village if he could
> say god told him to tell them if they died in =
battle, (or during pillage,
> mid-rape, etc) then god would reward generously =
in the afterlife.
> (And would punish in this life and the next, if =
they failed to
> pillage, rape and rob the other village.) =
The invention of god
> *might* be as simple as this: it made for more =
enthusiastic warriors.
I dont think god was invented to inspire warriors to =
fanatacism,it is a natural result of trying to learn ways of =
manipulating our environment.
I remember reading about an experiment performed on = pigeons. A group of pigeons was placed in a room and at = completely random intervals grain was dropped from the ceiling. = Over quite a short period of time the pigeons started to move = strangely, some holding one wing up, others keeping their heads down = all the time, etc. This is where superstition/religion originates = - it is natural (and intelligent) for us to try and control our = environment for our own purposes. The pigeon walking around with = one wing in the air was simply trying to conjure more food from the = roof, as in it's experience the food had tended to fall when it had one = wing in the air.
Obviously (hopefully) as beings become more = intelligent and rational they will begin to realise that various kinds = of superstitous behavior does not actually cause the desired results - = any correspondence caused merely by chance.
Religion is a primitive form of science - attempting = to understand and control the world by means of observed = phenomena. Unfortunately, just like most scientific theories when = they have outlived their usefulness, it is very hard to convince people = of their irrelevance once they have gained a strong group of = followers.
Jon Reeves