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"Yet the Hadza are very cooperative when it comes to hunting and daily life. They don't need a supernatural force to encourage this, because everyone knows ever
by xlm1717 11y ago
"Yet the Hadza are very cooperative when it comes to hunting and daily life. They don't need a supernatural force to encourage this, because everyone knows everyone else in their small bands. If you steal or lie, everyone will find out—and they might not want to cooperate with you anymore."
I wonder if this is why the rise of the Internet and the decline of religious affiliation are so closely related.
"As societies grow larger, such intensive social monitoring becomes impossible."
In today's society, we can shame anyone in the world we want in a matter of minutes using the power of social media. People themselves can enforce society's morals through shame. God may or may not be watching, but the Internet is always watching, and it never forgets.
It's an interesting idea indeed.
"They hope to show that the more omniscient and punitive the gods that people worship, the more money they are willing to give to strangers in their own religious community."
I wonder if people would be more willing to give to strangers if they were told that their name, social media profile, and donation amount were being put on a website for the world to see (and judge).
- mQu 11y agoI wouldn't say that Internet always watching can have the same effect because it's just mob of peers (humans) and ultimately can be ignored or fooled. God by definition can't. That why the concept can be disciplinary and ubiquitous. God watches you over the Internet too. However the concept of god (or God) in technology has been touched by sci-fi many times. Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, Serial Experiments Lain, GitS, Stanisław Lem's books and many more. If as the article stipulates humans need an external factor to be kept in line with social norms than this could be the evolution of religion.
- xlm1717 11y agoThey can certainly be fooled, even deliberately, but they can only be ignored at personal peril. For example, when a corporation does something someone doesn't like, or an employee (high-ranking or not) of that company does something that someone doesn't like, there are many instances where demands were made from a corporation (apologize for so-and-so, fire so-and-so for doing this) with the threat that the corporation would be boycotted if they didn't cooperate with the demands. Society is enforcing its morals via the internet shame mob through threatening a corporation's livelihood, which I would say has the same effect as God enforcing society's morals through eternal punishment. If you'd like specific examples of what I mentioned, simply google "internet shame mob". There are many, many examples.
- qzcx 11y agoI would agree that social media works for shaming large corporations (brands), but not so much on the micro scale of individual people out of the public spotlight.
- pharrington 11y agoSlut-Shaming happens on the internet too.
- SomeCallMeTim 11y ago> I wouldn't say that Internet always watching can have the same effect Studies of whether someone would steal a bagel/donut from a box, where payment for the pastry is on the honor system ("Take a donut for a dollar!"), show that if you paste up a pair of cartoony eyes above the food, theft rates are reduced. So it's not just about whether people feel like the Internet can be fooled. Just the fact that the Internet feels like it's watching could be enough to cause (most) people to behave ethically.