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Religion
In reply to the discussion: Do primates practice religion? [View all]Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)14. Rather than being revealed truth from prophets and magical beings
Religion is an evolved social meme useful for building cohesive social units.
If the answer to why is there religion is because it served or serves a useful evolutionary function, that answer does not require that any of the many religions have any validity at all outside of their evolutionary function. To refer to another discussion here, the multitude of mutually exclusive and internally incoherent and contradictory religious belief systems fits quite well with the "evolutionarily useful meme" explanation, and does not require that the mythology these religions espouse have any external truth value at all.
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OK, the title may miss the point, but the book and the review are not about humans.
cbayer
Jun 2013
#6
Evidently we don't share a common definition of the term "biological evolution"
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#49
Purpose implies intelligence, evolution certainly has effects but it is not intelligent
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#28
Purposeful trial and error has a lot higher success rate than does evolution
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#34
I don't think you can identify an 'optimal state of information' for a species
muriel_volestrangler
Jun 2013
#60
What I'm refering to is units of cultural information acting as genes.
napoleon_in_rags
Jun 2013
#62
Hope you are able to find it. I am on a road trip and would like to find it on audio.
cbayer
Jun 2013
#13
Thinking about religion rationally, and religiousity being innate are not mutually exclusive.
Warren Stupidity
Jun 2013
#10