General Replicator Theory

Religion

Kevin Aylward B.Sc.


Index

Definitions

Overview

This paper sets out an argument for the evolution of Religion, and holds that a god religion meme set is a natural and inevitable outcome of the Darwinian axioms. This is a somewhat controversial subject, however, the real fact that all Regions are inherently false, due to their demonstrated internal contradictions, complete lack of any objective evidence and violation of experimentally confirmed laws of physics, indicts that some sort of explanation should be forthcoming as to why such a sorry state of affairs has arisen. The only reasons that there is a  continuing belief in any Religion, is that that someone else has told someone that it is true, and that the believers are inherently doing so for their own selfish reasons, that is a belief in everlasting life if they do as the religion tells them, and damnation in hell if they don't. Its that simple. 

Fundamentally, the logic as to why individuals no longer believe in rain dances, Thor, Zeus, pink unicorns, hobbits, and that Bush is clever, simple seems to have escaped the bulk of the population. It will be described here as why such a meme set has evolved, and continues to propagate, despite the fact that it is fundamentally false.

Evolution Of Religion

It has been held that morals have evolved strictly for the purpose of maximizing Replicators numbers, as these maximize the traits of their Replicators, in accordance with Replicator theory. Morals are thus, a simple observation of the environment for traits that can Replicate faster than other traits. Some typical useful traits were illustrated in morals, for example consider the following set of morals as explained in morals :

1 These are the maximizing "good morals" named "good"

2 Those are the non maximizing "bad morals" named "no good"

3 Only chose the maximizing "good" morals, not bad morals.

4 Evaluate for correctness of the maximizing morals.

5 Do what parents tell you to do.

6 Do not murder.

7 No adultery.

8 Do not steal.

9  Do not lie.

10 Don't waste resources on obtaining unavailable resources. 

It  can be clearly seen that these morals are a natural observation, that if satisfied, are all for the purposes of maximizing Replicators numbers, and should therefore be expected to arise naturally by variation, selection and replication of traits under a Darwinian process.

These naturally arisen morals, may now be compared to another well known set of rules, with the word "good" suitably replaced.

The 10 Commandments

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' 

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.' 

SIX: 'You shall not murder.' 

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.' 

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.' 

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.' 

Evolution of God

It is trivially obvious from that above, that the basis of the Christian Religion, is a basis that is derivable simply by application of a Darwinian random process, that is, these morals require no external inputs for them to evolve. They simply act to maximize the numbers of the human replicator, illustrated by the fundamental thread of all of those papers, that is "what is mostly observed, is that which replicates the most".

Now consider the completely ignorant peasants of a few thousand years ago, that is, peasants with the most rudimental knowledge of scientific principles and no concept whatsoever about how things could really work. Furthermore, it has been held that understanding in general is a very desirable trait that allows for maximizing the numbers of Replicators. It is therefore a natural consequence that individuals will desire to form an understanding as to why what has resulted in them maximizing their numbers, so that they might further maximize their numbers by extending such explanations. Such individuals will clearly have observed that effects usually follow causes. It would therefore be pretty much an obvious deduction that all effects had causes, and would postulate that any unknown effect had a cause. The simplest solution was taken. All unknown causes had the same cause. This postulated cause was named "God". In reality, "God" is simple another phrase for "we have no idea whatsoever what caused that effect".

Thus, the only available answer to ignorant peasants as to why any morals were to be preferred to others, was to simple invent a new name for "unknown" and personify such name. Why individuals should accept such arguments today, when it is known that, essentially, all prior human concepts have been shown false, is a statement on just how uneducated and gullible the majority of us really are. There is no scientific reason whatsoever, why the god concept should be excluded from refutation, as have all other previously held beliefs that have been refuted. In addition, modern knowledge such as Quantum Mechanics, experimentally verified in millions of experiments, over 100 years, by 1000's of experts, to 12 decimal places on some occasions, indicates the inherent impossibility of an "all knowing", "all predicting" supreme being. Clearly, ignorant peasants of a few thousand years ago could not anticipate such knowledge, so obviously, when god was invented, it was given its attributes completely oblivious to the idea that such attributes were impossible. Whilst many religious believers might well claim that Quantum Mechanics must be false because of their beliefs, they also usually fail to appreciate that millions of everyday devices such as computers, radios, freezers, batteries etc, all rely on, and are only explainable by Quantum Mechanics. How can QM be so correct, yet wrong, especially when not a single prayer to a god has ever been proven to be answered?. QM works. Prayers don't. Its that simple.

Innocent By Association

The fundamental issue, is that although the God concept is false, the concept was attached to notions that are clearly advantages to maximizing Replicators numbers. These notions were erroneously attributed to the concept "God", hence the "God" meme propagated off the backs of the real useful memes. It was further complicated as the astute, more selfish individuals, e.g. priests and religious leaders, discovered that it was an excellent method to propagate their own selfish interests by exploiting their suckered followers. This is still true today with leaders of many countries justifying all manner of cruelty and violence by claiming that it is "Gods" will, and not their own personal selfish interests.

The Religion meme set is a particular vicious meme set to eradicate. One of its memes is the "faith" meme. This meme is very effective in eliminating challenges to the truth of Religion, as it stipulates that no matter how absurd some aspects of the religion are, it is still to be believed. The religion further protects itself, by evolving a meme that "only god knows all", essentially immunizing itself from any of its internal contradictions. That is, any contradiction is only an "apparent" one, but we are all simply too daft to understand the deeper meaning.

Religion Today

There is no reason whatsoever, that religion is required. It achieves nothing that can not, and is achievable by other means. It is fundamentally, a lie. In addition, it can, and has done, significant harm throughout the ages. For example, it is a mechanism that is continually being exploited by those in power for their own selfish purposes. It advocates many actions that cause significant suffering to millions of individuals, for example policies on birth control for 3rd world countries that are subject to extreme poverty. It has been the excuse for the mass slaughter of millions, much of it described by, and as a direct direction from god, in the Bible. Many preachers, conveniently, never quote the many passages that illustrate such barbaric behavior, see for example, http://www.evilbible.com. The bible is in reality, evidence of the most disgusting atrocities ever performed against humankind. Claimed Christians would do well to actually open up their eyes and truly read and understand what is really described in the Bible with an open mind, not what they have been spoon fed from misguided and ignorant individuals who no know better. 

Although, on some occasions, a small "fib", may have a useful purpose, experience dictates that having completely erroneous ideas on what the truth actually is, invariable leads to significant detriments to those with such false ideas. In this particular case, the situation is that some 90% of the most powerful nation on the earth soundly believe and practice a belief system that is fundamentally false. It has no more substance or utility, than a belief in pixies, elves, Santa Claus, pink unicorns, flying pigs, fairies, Thor, does.

Non Reality of Religion

In an effort to explain human existence and human consciousness, religion has to postulate:

That there is an single, amazing, absolutely wonderful supreme conscious being that can create, from nothing, suns weighing billions and billions of tones, knows absolutely everything, can do absolutely anything, can be everywhere in the universe at once, cares about everyone one of us, yet has never been proven to exist.

The reality about such a "god", that such a daft explanation is accepted by anyone at all, is truly amazing. The Reality is that god is only introduced simply as another word for "we have no idea whosoever", when a question is asked. Its that simple.

Maybe it is difficult for many to accept that simply blind process such as Darwinian evolution can account for us, but the alternative seems rather a long shot to any one with an ounce of rational sense. A god is simply, not credible by any stretch of the imagination. Its a classic case of being so open minded that ones brains fall out.


These papers may be freely copied only for non commercial use,

provided full credit is given to the author.

© Kevin Aylward 2003 - all rights reserved