this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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Science Memes

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Anthropomorphic (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 53 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

I've read a nice book from a French skepticism popularizer trying to explain the evolutionary origin of cognitive bias, basically the bias that fucks with our logic today probably helped us survive in the past. For example, the agent detection bias makes us interpret the sound of a twig snapping in the woods as if some dangerous animal or person was tracking us. It's doesn't cost much to be wrong about it and it sucks to be eaten if it was true but you ignored it. So it's efficient to put an intention or an agent behind a random natural occurence. This could also be what religions grew from.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What I read is that religion was a way to codify habits for survival. Pork meat that spoils quickly in a dessert climate is a health hazard, but people ate it anyway, but when the old guy says it angers the gods the chances of obeying is a lot bigger. That kind of thing. Of course when people obey gods there are those that claim to speak for the gods.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For sure this explains a lot of religious rules but I think agent illusion is also a big contributor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

You're both wrong and you're both right. A religion is just everything people think is important and needs to be believed by everyone. The "one single cause of religion" is that humans pass on knowledge. They teach each other. Obviously, this will result in socially organised systems of belief, AKA religions. And if you're asking "why is the content of religions incorrect", it's because human beings weren't born with omniscience. Your theories apply to why the content of religions is what it is, but not to why religion itself exists.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

dessert climate

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

English pronunciation can be difficult, though through tough thorough thought, it can generally be figured out

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Those who saw tigers where there were none were more likely to pass on their genes than those that didn't see the tiger hiding in the foliage.

And now their descendants see tigers in the stars.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

A lot of behaviors that would be advantageous in a pre-technical setting are troublesome today.

A guy who likes to get blackout drunk and fight is a nice thing to have when your whole army is about ten guys. The one who will sit and stare at nothing all day is a wonderful lookout. People who obsess about little things would know all the plants that are safe to eat.