I recently read an article on the New York Times, It talks about how religion was a byproduct in human evolution. It talks about how religion has no advantage to us in the sense of survival, and survival of the fittest. But it then goes to talk about how it could be part of the mind as a byproduct. It states that when a human senses movement, or hears sound, they automatically assume it is a “Agent”, or something living. It then says that humans do this because that it helps them survive, because it would be better to assume it is something, because then they run and if it was actually a threat then they would stay alive, but if they do not assume it is an agent, and it turns out to be a threat then they die. So when humans see something, and later realize it is not an agent they assume it is supernatural. They take a stand that religion is useless, but is just a natural byproduct. I would be curious on your opions, and I will post the article below.
I did not read the article, but I can dismiss the argument based on what you wrote.
Human beings do not automatically assume that all sounds come from something living. The claim is ridiculous.
Human beings do not automatically assume that all sounds that do not come from something living comes from the “supernatural.” This claim is even more ridiculous. The sounds of nature are not the sounds of nature??? Obvious contradiction.
I recently read an article on the New York Times, It talks about how religion was a byproduct in human evolution. It talks about how religion has no advantage to us in the sense of survival, and survival of the fittest. But it then goes to talk about how it could be part of the mind as a byproduct. It states that when a human senses movement, or hears sound, they automatically assume it is a “Agent”, or something living. It then says that humans do this because that it helps them survive, because it would be better to assume it is something, because then they run and if it was actually a threat then they would stay alive, but if they do not assume it is an agent, and it turns out to be a threat then they die. So when humans see something, and later realize it is not an agent they assume it is supernatural. They take a stand that religion is useless, but is just a natural byproduct. I would be curious on your opions, and I will post the article below.
I did not read the article, but I can dismiss the argument based on what you wrote.
Human beings do not automatically assume that all sounds come from something living. The claim is ridiculous.
Human beings do not automatically assume that all sounds that do not come from something living comes from the “supernatural.” This claim is even more ridiculous. The sounds of nature are not the sounds of nature??? Obvious contradiction.
Yeah this makes absolutely no sense. Then again this IS the NY Times.
“So why do we exhibit this trait? Why do many (I would say nearly all) of us believe that our ideas correspond with a real Truth that is out there somewhere? Why do many people believe in God or some kind of transcendent reality that provides us with an external reference point and sense of purpose? As a Christian I would see these realities as potential points of contact between ourselves and God. The fact that most of us have an intuitive belief in the supernatural could be seen as a problem that needs to be solved (as in the article above) or as a signpost toward our ultimate purpose.”
The above is from discussion on a blog I visit and I am not sure I have good answer as to the reason why it might be that so many people believe in God.
If “this trait” refers to a biological inclination to believe that what we hear in nature comes from living things, and so on as described above, “this trait” does not exist, so the question is invalid.
I don’t know that “a real Truth” refers to, but if it refers to the fact that reality is objective, the reason many people believe that is because it is true, but if “Truth” refers to something supernatural as I suspect, let me ask a counter-question: why are people less likely to believe in God and the supernatural the more intelligent and well-educated they are, and more likely to believe the less intelligent and educated they are?
The third question is dishonest, in that it assumes that we need to believe in God to have a sense of purpose. I have a sense of purpose and am an atheist.
We also do not have an intuitive belief in the supernatural. I have not, and never have.
“So why do we exhibit this trait? Why do many (I would say nearly all) of us believe that our ideas correspond with a real Truth that is out there somewhere? Why do many people believe in God or some kind of transcendent reality that provides us with an external reference point and sense of purpose? As a Christian I would see these realities as potential points of contact between ourselves and God. The fact that most of us have an intuitive belief in the supernatural could be seen as a problem that needs to be solved (as in the article above) or as a signpost toward our ultimate purpose.”
The above is from discussion on a blog I visit and I am not sure I have good answer as to the reason why it might be that so many people believe in God.
It is possible, however that the idea of a supernatural can develop easily from built in traits . . . people hallucinate ghosts and UFO’s all the time because our brains are hardwired to attempt to find patterns in anything . . . even in situations where patterns do not exist. This is part of the reason that optical illusions exist; your brain automatically tries to “make sense” of contradictory visual nformation. Sensory information is extensively “massaged” before being “reported” to whatever part of your brain makes decisions about said sensory information.
Why does your brain do this? Because in a world with dangerous predators (both human and non) it’s better to get a false positive for someone sneaking up on you a thousand times than it is to miss the sneaker one time.
At best, this is just a wild hypothesis, but it is a potential explanation for all sorts of weirdness. It won’t become an actual explanation until someone can demonstrate the causal relationship.
It doesn’t add up to a genetic disposition to believe in the supernatural, either . . . it just means that you have a genetic disposition to see things that aren’t there and believe they are other humans, weird voices, etc. when you’re emotional, distracted, or just not paying attention. In an irrational person these “manifestations” easily become evidence of gods, demons, ghosts, or UFO’s. In a rationally-minded person, they elicit a response along the lines of: huh, that was bizarre.