statistics doesn't agree.
it's been posted in this thread that 16% of the worlds population is atheist.
that doesn't sound like an overwhelming majority to me.
Why does evolution select against atheists?
- Thread starter S.A.M.
- Start date
it's been posted in this thread that 16% of the worlds population is atheist.
that doesn't sound like an overwhelming majority to me.
Numbers increasing from unspeakably low percentage = evolution selecting against. Flawless logic.
Perhaps nature doesn't select against atheism but, rather, it selects for theism. Or, probably more accurately, for superstition and belief.
A belief begins when the sensory cortex makes an association between two events and the event is repeated again later -if its repeated soon enough, and the memory of the first event is still present, a connection is made and a belief is formed. This is exhibited by the sympathetic magic of baseball players who always eat the same meal before a game or the businessman who always wears the same tie before a major deal.
The belief is that the action affected the outcome, even though it was coincidence ("hits" are significant and remembered, "misses" are insignificant and ignored).
Religious superstitions very likely (I would argue, very clearly) began as sympathetic magic withe early hominids developing superstitions about how they interacted with the world around them. This can be seen in the Levant today when the archaeological record is examined closely: Neolithic settlements like Jericho exhibit evidence of ancestor worship with human heads removed from their bodies, plastered and painted (interestingly enough, the skulls selected were almost always modified in shape as infants); Bronze Age Jericho exhibits a more refined cult practice that includes many gods that may now stand in for ancestors long embellished and elevated to supernatural status; Iron Age Jericho evolves from a polytheistic Canaanite culture to a first polytheistic, then monotheistic, Israelite culture with the Canaanite pantheon merged into a single godhead (elohim -the plural "gods", embodied by Yahweh (formerly a Canaanite god who was the spouse of Ashera).
The successes of this line of culture, Natufian->Canaanite->Israelite, appears to have benefited from belief in the supernatural and the establishment of an ever evolving religious superstition.
Similar successes can be seen around the globe with the evolution and demise of several cultures and their religious superstitions.
In a pre-scientific, pre-literate, pre-democratic world, religion provides history (even if a propagandized version), government, policy, laws, morals (even if relative to the culture), etc. People necessarily collaborate in promoting and developing their societies.
In a modern axial age with the benefit of science, reason, and humanist governance, religious superstition and the propensity to believe in that which is fantastic may no longer be a selective advantage.
A belief begins when the sensory cortex makes an association between two events and the event is repeated again later -if its repeated soon enough, and the memory of the first event is still present, a connection is made and a belief is formed. This is exhibited by the sympathetic magic of baseball players who always eat the same meal before a game or the businessman who always wears the same tie before a major deal.
The belief is that the action affected the outcome, even though it was coincidence ("hits" are significant and remembered, "misses" are insignificant and ignored).
Religious superstitions very likely (I would argue, very clearly) began as sympathetic magic withe early hominids developing superstitions about how they interacted with the world around them. This can be seen in the Levant today when the archaeological record is examined closely: Neolithic settlements like Jericho exhibit evidence of ancestor worship with human heads removed from their bodies, plastered and painted (interestingly enough, the skulls selected were almost always modified in shape as infants); Bronze Age Jericho exhibits a more refined cult practice that includes many gods that may now stand in for ancestors long embellished and elevated to supernatural status; Iron Age Jericho evolves from a polytheistic Canaanite culture to a first polytheistic, then monotheistic, Israelite culture with the Canaanite pantheon merged into a single godhead (elohim -the plural "gods", embodied by Yahweh (formerly a Canaanite god who was the spouse of Ashera).
The successes of this line of culture, Natufian->Canaanite->Israelite, appears to have benefited from belief in the supernatural and the establishment of an ever evolving religious superstition.
Similar successes can be seen around the globe with the evolution and demise of several cultures and their religious superstitions.
In a pre-scientific, pre-literate, pre-democratic world, religion provides history (even if a propagandized version), government, policy, laws, morals (even if relative to the culture), etc. People necessarily collaborate in promoting and developing their societies.
In a modern axial age with the benefit of science, reason, and humanist governance, religious superstition and the propensity to believe in that which is fantastic may no longer be a selective advantage.
i agree, the more "science, reason and humanistic governance", the worse off we'll be from an evolutionary perspective. but that's the compromise you make for modern society's perks.
What does the lifespan of particular forms of governance have to do with evolutionary advantages?SAM said:
My own guess would be that if atheism causes the faster collapse of tyrannies and so forth, that is to its credit - but I see no sure evolutionary advantage there.
I doubt "evolutionary advantage" is a criterion available to us, in evaluating our own societies and so forth.
Clearly, we do know otherwise. And, you would clearly be lying if you knew different.
I was responding to this:
Although one could conclude that the advances in weaponry have determined who is more likely to survive, but overall, the countries with greater science, reason etc, seem to have trouble replacing their populations and have to import citizens from elsewhere.
???
I think the criteria is very simple: to be or not to be, that is the quesion.
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
Don't know whether or not this has been pointed out yet, but the OP (well, combined with the thread title) implicates that theism is genetic.
And by extension it implicates that theists only believe in God because they have a genetic predisposition towards believing in God.
Could this perhaps suggest that it's all in their minds (or genes for that matter), as opposed to God actually existing ?
Nice going SAM
And by extension it implicates that theists only believe in God because they have a genetic predisposition towards believing in God.
Could this perhaps suggest that it's all in their minds (or genes for that matter), as opposed to God actually existing ?
Nice going SAM
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Well, I pointed out earlier in this thread that evolution doesn't necessarily ensure the best survives.
IF theism is genetic, that wouldn't indicate gods exist & it wouldn't prove they don't.
Theist would claim it as proof while others would see it as 1 more thing now rationally explained.
Well, I pointed out earlier in this thread that evolution doesn't necessarily ensure the best survives.
IF theism is genetic, that wouldn't indicate gods exist & it wouldn't prove they don't.
Theist would claim it as proof while others would see it as 1 more thing now rationally explained.
Enmos
Valued Senior Member
IF theism is genetic and God exists then how come there are atheists ?
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That is something we're not meant to understand.
I couldn't resist that but I need to go & don't want to leave it as a joke some may misunderstand.
That is something we're not meant to understand.
I couldn't resist that but I need to go & don't want to leave it as a joke some may misunderstand.
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Of course not, yet. We are just now becoming mentally and emotionally sophisticated enough that the older superstitions can start to die out.
From 0% to 16% is just the trend and that trend is upward.
Maybe we're becoming like animals again, losing intelligence to instinct. That would explain why people are behaving more and more like animals and less and less like human beings.
Examples?