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I don't think your explanation is correct, simply because it doesn't give an evolutionary advantage to pray for something that may or may not come true. On the

by mixmax 16y ago

I don't think your explanation is correct, simply because it doesn't give an evolutionary advantage to pray for something that may or may not come true. On the contrary you spend precious resources on something superfluous.

hugh3 16y ago
I'm not sure the grandparent ever claimed there was an evolutionary advantage to religion. Humans do many things "naturally" which were never really selected for. Stubbing our toes, becoming alcoholic, dying during childbirth... these are things which are just incidental consequences of how our bodies are built. I suspect religion is "natural" in the same sense. We're born with a sense of cause and effect, so when we see effects we hypothesise causes. Our brains have a pretty good sense of human psychology, so we wind up ascribing human psychological motivations to non-human objects too. Pretty soon we've attributed everything in the universe to invisible, powerful and psychologically human beings acting out of some kind of comprehensible motive. Again, Aboriginal mythology gives us good examples. It seems that every major geographical feature is actually the consequence of some kind of nice comprehensible family drama, eg. http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingsToDo/threeSisters.asp http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingsToDo/threeSisters.as...
- mixmax 16y ago
  The grandparent didn't claim that there was an evolutionary advantage to religion, but he did claim that the human species started doing something that has no evolutionary advantage (we invented prayer). As you correctly point out the traits we have are either an advantage or an artifact of an advantage. Inventing prayer is neither of those.
derefr 16y ago
It's a superstimulus, in the same way that purchasing lottery tickets is. Praying is a low-probability, high-reward situation (in the unlikely event that our prayer is answered, we will benefit greatly), and our brains seem to favor those unnaturally. Since the things farmers pray for are frequently simple random chance or the effects of nonlinear systems (such as the weather), they sometimes "work"—but not predictably. This induces an even greater impulse to continue trying, because the "prayer being answered" event seems to be a variable-schedule reward. We get addicted to praying. Additionally, praying signals your group affiliation (praying, in a group, for something that is good for the group, instead of just you) but is usually done silently, allowing you to covertly express your individual desires. It's a bit like voting in that way.

by mixmax 16y ago

hugh3 16y ago

I'm not sure the grandparent ever claimed there was an evolutionary advantage to religion. Humans do many things "naturally" which were never really selected for. Stubbing our toes, becoming alcoholic, dying during childbirth... these are things which are just incidental consequences of how our bodies are built. I suspect religion is "natural" in the same sense. We're born with a sense of cause and effect, so when we see effects we hypothesise causes. Our brains have a pretty good sense of human psychology, so we wind up ascribing human psychological motivations to non-human objects too. Pretty soon we've attributed everything in the universe to invisible, powerful and psychologically human beings acting out of some kind of comprehensible motive. Again, Aboriginal mythology gives us good examples. It seems that every major geographical feature is actually the consequence of some kind of nice comprehensible family drama, eg. http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingsToDo/threeSisters.asp http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingsToDo/threeSisters.as...

mixmax 16y ago
The grandparent didn't claim that there was an evolutionary advantage to religion, but he did claim that the human species started doing something that has no evolutionary advantage (we invented prayer). As you correctly point out the traits we have are either an advantage or an artifact of an advantage. Inventing prayer is neither of those.

derefr 16y ago

It's a superstimulus, in the same way that purchasing lottery tickets is. Praying is a low-probability, high-reward situation (in the unlikely event that our prayer is answered, we will benefit greatly), and our brains seem to favor those unnaturally. Since the things farmers pray for are frequently simple random chance or the effects of nonlinear systems (such as the weather), they sometimes "work"—but not predictably. This induces an even greater impulse to continue trying, because the "prayer being answered" event seems to be a variable-schedule reward. We get addicted to praying. Additionally, praying signals your group affiliation (praying, in a group, for something that is good for the group, instead of just you) but is usually done silently, allowing you to covertly express your individual desires. It's a bit like voting in that way.