[FRIAM] God

[Steve Smith]

My own "just so" story about belief in the supernatural is that it
provides ballast to an emerging/evolving mind (on top of an evolving
neural system including the development of language and planning
functions) which becomes somewhat obsessive about "posing questions and
finding answers".   I tend to think of the pervasive belief in the
supernatural as a way to resolve those questions which are simply too
subtle or complex or to whose resolution is too subtle or obscured to
yield to "rational" answers.   I suspect it is also a useful place to
build ill-formed hypotheses... theories that just don't hold water (yet)
and need to be scaffolded by actions of "the gods" or equivalent.  
While I find *other's* various superstitious beliefs inconvenient to
deal with sometime, I think they hold a significant utility for both
individual and group, but it is their nature, just like *scientific*
beliefs (although not JUST like) to be overturned as understanding expands.

On 5/21/20 8:44 AM, Prof David West wrote:
> Certainly. I apologize if I implied otherwise.
>
> "What is the function of that?" seems to be a strange question — a disguise for a different type of question like, "what is the evolutionary advantage?
>
> My reaction to the article was along the lines: Does DMT, at the micro-dose level in the human brain, contribute a biological evolutionary advantage along the lines of nuanced sensitivity — helping make more precise distinctions to sensory input and therefore increase survival odds in some subtle way. The belief in "Other" or "God" is just a side effect?
>
> Fast forward a few millennia and the side-effect that had little or no consequence vis-a-vis biological evolution suddenly becomes a vulnerability —a contra-survival trait—  in terms of socio-cultural evolution?
>  
> [Yes, I am being a bit sloppy and or metaphorical as I toss about the the term evolution.]
>
> davew
>
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2020, at 3:36 PM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
>> Ok.  But I can ask "why", right? 
>>
>> Nicholas Thompson
>> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>> Clark University
>> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>>  
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 3:29 PM
>> To: friam at redfish.com
>> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] God
>>
>> Who said anything about a function?
>>
>> A simple observation: every culture of which we are aware express some 
>> sort of belief in the supernatural - there is marginal consistency 
>> among expressions of that belief. Burials with artifacts / food stuffs 
>> / staged body positioning / etc. are interpreted as expressions of 
>> supernatural belief in prehistoric cultures. Again just an observation, 
>> no interpretation, no assignment of meaning, no explantation.
>>
>> davew
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 20, 2020, at 10:22 AM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
>>> Wait a minute?
>>>
>>> What is the function of believing in higher spirits? 
>>>
>>> Or is it a spandrel?
>>>
>>> N
>>>
>>> Nicholas Thompson
>>> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University 
>>> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>>>  
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:23 AM
>>> To: friam at redfish.com
>>> Subject: [FRIAM] God
>>>
>>> Taking (inhaling) DMT seems to induce a belief in "higher spirits" e.g. "God."
>>>
>>> https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881120916143
>>>
>>> Since human brains naturally produce DMT (some controversy about this 
>>> assertion); that is why all human cultures — historic and prehistoric — 
>>> incorporate beliefs in the supernatural.
>>>
>>> davew
>>>
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