The sleep of reason produces monsters Goya, Francisco Caprichos May common Sense and Reason prevail Evolutionary psychology of religion and the reign of science Richard Dawkins – an introduction Primer to Dawkins BBC programmes The Root of all Evil The Enemies of Reason. Slaves to superstition 00.-30 The Virus of faith REASON and IRRATIONALITY Disclaimer: my religion: Harry Potterism Hermione Granger & the Resurrection Stone Hermione , ". 'But that's - I'm sorry, but that's completely ridiculous! How can I possibly prove it doesn't exist? .. you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist !‘ Bertrand Russell: the Holy flying China Teapot in Orbit around the Sun RoE 44.50 Too small to be spotted by telescope – we are all teapot-agnostics Fairies, goblins, giants, Dawkins : We’re all atheists about most of the Gods that societies have ever believed in – some of us just go one God further. Disclaimer: my religion: Harry Potterism Severus Snapism Hermione Granger & the Resurrection Stone Hermione , ". 'But that's - I'm sorry, but that's completely ridiculous! How can I possibly prove it doesn't exist? .. you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist !‘ Bertrand Russell: the Holy flying China Teapot in Orbit around the Sun RoE 44.50 Too small to be spotted by telescope – we are all teapot-agnostics Fairies, goblins, giants, Thor, Aphrodite Dawkins : We’re all atheists about most of the Gods that societies have ever believed in – some of us just go one God further. On evolution A chicken is just an egg's way of making more eggs. Charles Darwin Premise 1: Struggle for survival Premise 2: Variability Premise 3: Heritability Premise 4: Fitness CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION •He observed breeders and different naturally evolving species •Charles Babbage: God = programmer of laws Evolutionary psychology The Human Animal (Sociobiology) Adaptationism Originally applied to biological organs – the most well-known is the eye Extensions: the brain is a biological organ Supposition: the brain produces behaviour and consciousness Therefore: behaviour and consciousness is formed by evolution just as the biological body is Problems with evolutionary psychology Level of selection (individual, gene, group) Question of fitness & adaptation Small designs that lead to a higher reproduction of a trait CIRCULARITY: How do you recognize fitness? Xenophobia, colour of bones, form of earlobes Just-so stories (Rudyard Kipling) The Panglossian Paradox George Jackson Mivart - what do you do with 5% of a wing? Blind adaptationism (by Pinker) Gould: exaptations Physical constraints – Gould: spandrels in the cathedral Genetic Determinism… nature-nurture debate… The Swiss-army-knife model of evolution Pinker, Tooby and Cosmides, Buss Massive modularity Modern-day phrenology Dawkins’s views An ardent opponent to creationism and proponent of evolution - earning him the title of Darwin’s Rottweiler The Blind Watchmaker – focuses on how evolution could create marvellous structures – like the eye William Paley – a watch presupposes intelligent design because of its complexity The Weasel problem Shakespeare’s Hamlet Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? Polonius: By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. Based on the infinite monkey theorem A monkey bashing away at random on a typewriter – given enough time he would type the entire works of Shakespeare how long would it take him to produce the sentence ‘Methinks it is like a weasel.’? The Weasel problem Methinks it is like a weasel This is 28 characters Using 26 letters – only capitals and a space bar Probability? 28 = 40 27 10 = infinity, or at least much longer than milliseconds from the existence of the universe (13,73 billion = 13,73 * 10 9 years = 7,22 * 10 18 milliseconds) Sir Frederick Hoyle „approximately the same order of magnitude as the probability that a hurricane could sweep through a junkyard and randomly assemble a Boeing 747 .” solar system full of blind men solving Rubik's Cube simultaneously. The simplest bacterium needs 10 40,000 permutations, while the number of the atoms in the universe is „only” 10 80, the chance is the same as throwing 50 000 sixes in a row with a die Sir Frederick Hoyle Astronomer and sci-fi writer He opposed the Big Bang theory – because it needs a cause Steady State theory He also opposed natural abiogenesis! Intelligent design - Evolution from Space Hoyle’s fallacy You don’t need 28 letters. You start with say 3. They calculate the probability of the formation of a "modern" protein, or even a complete bacterium with all "modern" proteins, by random events. This is not the abiogenesis theory at all – it starts with VERY SIMPLE organisms They assume that there is a fixed number of proteins, with fixed sequences for each protein, that are required for life. They calculate the probability of sequential trials, rather than simultaneous trials. Changing one at a time – mutations are rare but do not exclude each other They seriously underestimate the number of functional enzymes/ribozymes present in a group of random sequences – only one good solution fallacy The Weasel problem Cumulative selections instead of a single step selection Two differences in his model: Copying mechanism – it retains previous states There is an inherent goal – any change that occurs towards methinks it is a weasel is kept, others are discarded Generation 1: WDLMNLT DTJBKWIRZREZLMQCO P Generation 2: WDLTMNLT DTJBSWIRZREZLMQCO P Generation 10: MDLDMNLS ITJISWHRZREZ MECS P Generation 20: MELDINLS IT ISWPRKE Z WECSEL Generation 30: METHINGS IT ISWLIKE B WECSEL Generation 40: METHINKS IT IS LIKE I WEASEL Generation 43: METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL Fitness or adaptive landscapes – genetic variation is pushed to the direction of the arrows Waddington – epigenetic landscape – curiously posits a rolling, not a climbing ball Saddle points in mathematics as non-optimal solutions The circular argumentation problem Inherent goal – often evokes attacks of circular argumentation The effects strive towards the goal The goal preexists (who invented the goal?) Answer – evolutionary forces How do you know this was the goal? Because it is reached! Mary Midgley: Evolution as a Religion Buss: the moral phallacy (Dawkins examines it as well.) On evolution and religion The Four Horsemen of the anti- Apocalypse *The end of Faith: Harris *The God Delusion: Dawkins *god is not Great: Hitchens *Breaking the Spell: Dennett Would you like the Churches empty? The Bible as a literary piece = Harry Potter Evolutionary accounts of religion Richard Dawkins Openly attacking religion – derogatory of believers Supporter of the Brights movement Bright – Paul Geisert’s umbrella term Daniel C. Denett More of a compromise Restricts himself to the argument that religion can and should be studied by science Daniel Clement Dennett Philosopher With an interesting history (father spy, self-education) Darwin’s dangerous Idea Consciousness Explained (at least not religion..) No Cartesian theatre bundle of semi-independent agencies content-fixation Denett on religion An argument towards the scientific study of religion – terrorist attempts 9/11 Explanation given on the basis of meme theory (by Dawkins) Evaluation of good and bad aspects Denett on religion Part I: Opening Pandora's Box Relationship of science and religion Part II: The Evolution of Religion Part III: Religion Today What should be done to stop religious fanatics There is reason in unreasonable behaviour – somewhere, if you look long enough The story of the suicidal ant and the lancet fluke (a small worm) There are many ideas to die for protecting ideologies (other animals protect food, cubs or habitat only) The curious example of the dog (domestication) Ideas are not intelligent themselves- why should they cause others to kill Neither are lancet flukes and the wings of butterflies What is religion for Dennett? Religion Social systems Participants avow belief In supernatural agents OR Agents whose approval is to be sought Elvis Presley fan club is not one Need not be anthropomorphic Jehova exists in real-time according to some accounts and not real.time according to others If prayer is a symbolic activity, not addressed to anyone, it is not part of religion Maybe this is the origin of religion Some rituals can pass to non-religious (Santa Claus or Halloween) Private religions – spiritual in his terms, not religious Black magic and satanist cults They are not religions, because no one thinks so?? Buddhism & Confucianism (again a contradiction) Breaking which spell? Breaking the spell – of religion The analogy of the men with a cell phone in the room Religion as a potentially evil spell – sharin gas attack, 9/11 Other ones mentioned: Drugs Gambling Alcohol Child pornography Addiction? – life without it is not worth living Excessive physical or psychological dependence (conversation? Communication?) Breaking which spell? The fear of knowing Wouldn’t an extensive and invasive examination destroy the phenomenon itself? Nobody knows the answer – incl.Denett Endangered species – often become extinct because of capturing them to breed – which they don’t in captivity Isolated people are often changed if studied by anthropologists Cadavres were