Book Review: Why We Believe in God(s)

Why We Believe in God(s) - A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith
- Thomson, J. Anderson

Every atheist would have wondered many a time, why people believe in Gods! Why is it difficult to appreciate the 'fact' that we are risen apes and not fallen angels, despite indisputable scientific evidence!

The author, an American forensic psychiatrist, discusses the potential psychological reasons behind people believing in Gods. He claims that after reading the book, that arms extended worshipper not only looks foolish, but also looks infantile. And, I vouch for the veracity of his claim :-)

There is a popular quote by Douglas Adams - Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? On a similar note, atheists might often wonder why believers are so omnipresent? The author convincingly presents several experiments that establish our bias to interpret unclear evidence as being caused by some agent, almost always a humanlike agent, and our ability for self-deception, which is crucial to religious belief. One of the strongest arguments supporting the later claim is, most of the believers live their lives as if there is no God. 

He establishes psychological similarity among the belief in super-nature, craving for sweets and fast-foods, having sex, our groupish nature and the sense of security that it brings, which is so inherent to us etc., Most of these are life-sustaining adaptations by our ancestors that are passed on over and over, for generations. As the survived reproduce, the tribe of the adapted flourished. A few generations later, those who subscribe to these ended up being the majority. These adaptations have something to do with our brain cells. It's experimentally proven that these cells explode with delight causing intense pleasure, when one pursues such adaptations.  Besides, there are 'do-it-again' centres in our brain, which made us do these things, that give us intense pleasure, again and again. Chanting, dancing, praying, singing, music fall in this category, which are so intertwined with several major religions. He also argues that our bias to over-read purpose is another major reason behind our gullibility, which helped religions flourish.

Apparently, without any knowledge of neurochemistry, our ancestors managed to come up with a combination of activities that stimulate and boost neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine etc., which induce brain activity. And, they tied these activities with religion. 

There is a popular argument put forth by some of my believer friends, when I wonder, why some of the chiefs of ISRO follow this ritual of visiting Tirupti to seek divine intervention with a model of the rocket that they are about to launch - it's the psychological benefits that such rituals bring. Now we have a scientific explanation for that - Our brains have some precautionary vigilance systems that get triggered to take actions to allay our anxiety. Religions use precisely these mechanisms that allay anxiety due to the harsh world around us. Our ancestors lived through much harsher world. We inherited their mechanisms.

A quick read that gives a good insight into the scientific reasons behind some of the madness that we see around us, in the name of God, religion and super-nature.

Book Review: The Religion War

The Religion War
- Scott Adams (The Dilbert guy)

Thanks to Facebook memories (on-this-day feature), one of my 4 year old book review popped up a few weeks back - God's Debris by Scott Adams. A comment for that review made me pick the sequel of that - The Religion War.

Author takes us to an imaginary time in future, where just 2 large religions are left in the world. All the countries are aligned with one of these 2 religions. Supreme leaders of these religions virtually control military power of all the countries that subscribe to their respective religions. Avatar, the protagonist of the story, firmly believes that the universe is nothing but probability(as portrayed in the previous book). As he has reasons to believe that these 2 leaders are extremely smart with their moves, he plays the game of probability to know their war moves against each other. Loaded with this knowledge, he gets access to these leaders and also manages to bring them to a table to discuss the situation and avoid the imminent extermination and annihilation. As the probability of his failure to convince them that there is a better option than extermination and annihilation is significant, he works on a plan B in parallel. 

He engages one of the best brains in the world, who also has access to all the information, to find one person who has the power to influence every single person in the world. He figures out that finding that person is the single most important task, based on the following rationale. Everyone has at least one influencer in his life, someone who can change their mind simply by expressing an opinion that is different from their own. We may not be consciously aware of the influencer always, as we rationalise some of our arguments/opinions so much that we often make them our own. He fails to find that person. But, in the process of failing, the best brain he engaged opens up all kinds of communication channels among people across all countries. These channels were hitherto monitored and completely controlled by the supreme leaders. The free, always open and easy to use channels make people of both the faiths communicate freely and understand that irrespective of the religion, when it comes to basic questions about life, they are all same. This realisation kills the irrational animosity between people of different faiths, which is a basic ingredient for these supreme leaders to reign. They soon lose their ground and the world becomes liveable again.

The conversations between Avatar and the supreme leaders make great reads. Avatar rips into age old irrational beliefs like, Certain places can be holy - In a universe in which nothing is fixed, how can a place be holy? If it's about the dirt and rocks at that particular place, they can always be transported and make another place holy; Rational arguments about faith often hurt believers - That's the problem with clarity, it often hurts; People often scream that they are not delusional - Unless one is like Dr. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (who claims to be so smart that if he were ever wrong, he would know it), a delusional person may not be aware that he is delusional; Finally, the very irrational Faith - Seeing some results from prayers is not faith. Faith by definition is believing in something without any evidence whatsoever. If someone argues that they have faith, because they see faith working, it's just a very bad way of doing science.

Scott Adams presents these arguments in his inimitable style, making it a worthy read in every way.