Jared Diamond - Does Evolutionary Psychology Undermine Religion?

Evolutionary psychology naturalizes religion. It seeks to explain elements of mind by selection and survival over time. Take altruism—individuals sacrificing themselves for the good of the group. Can humanity's entire religion project be explained similarly?

[DanielFoland]

Love hearing Dr. Diamond's perspective and what appear to be completely reasonable arguments.

[pukulu]

Actually though, we know very little about the inner lives of whales. If elephants are aware of their own mortality, why should such knowledge be excluded from whales?

[redirishmanxlt]

@0:35 - Humans are 2 million years old? The actual range is some where between 60 - 200 years ago, how did Kuhn miss that?

[HebaruSan]

The "stress reliever" idea just doesn't make sense. Stress is the body's response to perceived danger. If you feel stress, then either there's danger and it's helping you, or there's no danger and it's wasting your nutritional resources and distorting your behavior. If you perceive danger where there is none or vice versa, then that would select for a smarter danger sense, not a generalized stress reliever. If you have so much overall stress that it's harmful to you, then that would select for a less severe stress response. What is the advantage of an after-the-fact workaround for an oversensitive stress response?

[bobaldo]

All these ostensibly serious academics who involve themselves in goofy debates between science and "religion" (always really science and theism; I've never heard them debate Buddhism for instance) diminish themselves by so doing, in my humble opinion.

[tfred]

Your comment: a whale does not have a concept of death. See new findings. Studies suggest that a variety of dolphins and whale species grieve for their dead. These species can range from a small spinner dolphin to larger animals such as pilot whales and sperm whales. So do questions haunt whales and dolphins?

[GeoCoppens]

Kuhn seems to want to drag in religion again and again.
‘Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying religion doesn’t have its uses. Personally I turn to it whenever I want my intelligence insulted.’ Pat Condell

[BikiniDeathSquad]

this guy is full of straw man arguments

[BradHolkesvig]

All you have to do to learn about creation is to listen to the voice of God and obey all his commandments. It's the only way.