(July 18, 2014 at 9:31 am)Rhythm Wrote: I would suggest that your use of the word belief makes the term a little less than useful. I don't have to believe in a man eating bear in a cave, and I don't have to believe that science will "deliver us" from anything. I can watch the bear eat a man, and we're definitely not at a loss to demonstrate all the ways in which science has delivered us. Natural hardwirings and evolutionary benefits aren't a compelling case for continuing in any particular behavior. I'm naturally hardwired to be aggressive. You don't want me stumbling around killing every tom dick and harry I come across, amiright? In any case, I don't actually think that we're talking about hardwiring, we're talking about words and their ability to paint a picture. You've made these things so by choice of vocab, which is cool......but it doesn't go much further than your narrative. We're hardwired to seek out survival strategies, belief being one of them - we're not hardwired for belief itself. Further, blind faith as evolutionary benefit is stretching it to point of breaking. If we were hardwired for such in-and-of-itself, or if it were truly blind, it wouldn't reflect the situation and environment of the believer - changing as that environment and their situation within it changes- and we wouldn't be losing said faith so rapidly.
I can't find (but if you can, please share) anything that suggests that "blind faith" or even "faith" as you've expressed it is a heritable trait - or any mechanism by which evolutionary processes in and of themselves would manufacture it as a trait. What I do see, is an inheritable trait that can be leveraged to produce the effect....or not.
I am not saying blind faith is a heritable trait, I'm saying it is easy to see how it would be useful as an evolutionary strategy. I am saying the predisposition to develop a system of belief is hardwired. You can read about that here.
James Randi Education Foundation - Why we are hardwired for belief in God
We are hardwired for 'belief itself'.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
