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What is the evolutionary advantage to religion?

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Author Topic:   What is the evolutionary advantage to religion?
Ben!
Member (Idle past 1428 days)
Posts: 1161
From: Hayward, CA
Joined: 10-14-2004

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Message 6 of 167 (171991)
12-28-2004 8:23 PM 		Reply to: Message 1 by RAZD
12-24-2004 6:07 PM

First, I found a topic that seems to be along the same line:
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Can Evolution explain this? (Re: The biological evolution of religious belief)
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Second, I wrote a reply about Dr. Robert Sapolsky's talk where he discusses religion and the dopaminergic reward system:
http://EvC Forum: Stanford University Conference Videos: Brain, Mind and Emergence
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I thought these two things would be interesting to you.
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Ben!
Member (Idle past 1428 days)
Posts: 1161
From: Hayward, CA
Joined: 10-14-2004

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Message 149 of 167 (209173)
05-17-2005 9:12 PM 		Reply to: Message 148 by Cold Foreign Object
05-17-2005 9:08 PM

Re: SUMMARY of on topic responses so far:
Are you saying that belief in a God that exists provides a selective advantage in this lifetime? By what mechanism?
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 Message 148 by Cold Foreign Object, posted 05-17-2005 9:08 PM Cold Foreign Object has replied
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Ben!
Member (Idle past 1428 days)
Posts: 1161
From: Hayward, CA
Joined: 10-14-2004

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Message 157 of 167 (209191)
05-17-2005 9:59 PM 		Reply to: Message 151 by Cold Foreign Object
05-17-2005 9:35 PM

Re: SUMMARY of on topic responses so far:
selective has to do with selection principles, i.e. the ability to survive and reproduce.
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I'll try to restate, to make things clearer. Are you saying that the evolutionary advantage to religion is that you believe in a true God that exists, and therefore that God will somehow make it more likely that you'll survive and reproduce in this lifetime? And if you are saying this, then by what mechanism (i.e. how) does God do that?
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Ben!
Member (Idle past 1428 days)
Posts: 1161
From: Hayward, CA
Joined: 10-14-2004

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Message 159 of 167 (209198)
05-17-2005 10:31 PM 		Reply to: Message 158 by Cold Foreign Object
05-17-2005 10:16 PM

Re: SUMMARY of on topic responses so far:
This is one method to ensure impregnation
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Haha
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But I'm a bit confused by your argument. Are you saying that this happened only in the past, and that this type of event "selected" believers to a degree that a significant part of the population became believers?
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Or are you saying this kind of thing still goes on today?
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And if it's not still going on today, do you think there's an evolutionary advantage religion to religion today? If so, what's the mechanism?
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