Football hero Pat Tillman died a military hero, defending the U.S from terrorism, right? How convenient. Or did he die of friendly fire? It depends on what official version of the story you care to believe. Tillman's story reeks of cover-up. Now take a look at this evidence. And now take a look…
The federal government's decision to lay a subpoena on Michael Moore provides a psychological insight (not a new insight) into the Bush Administration. The suboena probably has something to do with Moore's visit to Cuba. American law doesn't prohibit Americans from visiting Cuba, but it does prohibit American citizens spending…
For many scientists who study it, religion should be placed into one of two camps: 1) religion is an aberration, a mental virus; or 2) religion is an adaptation–that religion enhanced the survival of Believers. A well-written article by Robin Marantz Henig explores this issue in the New York Times. The title is “HeavenBound: a Scientific Exploration of How We Have Come to Believe in God.” Henig sums up the alternatives by reference to blood. A trait might be “adaptive,” like the ability of blood cells to transport oxygen. On the other hand, a trait might be simply a byproduct, such as the “redness” of blood.
Is blood prominent because it’s red or because it actually carries oxygen?
Several notable scientists and philosophers lead the charge from the first camp (that religion is a byproduct). One of them is Richard Dawkins, who argues that “religion is nothing more than a useless, and sometimes dangerous, evolutionary accident.” Others falling into this camp include Sam Harris, Scott Atran, Pascal Boyer and Daniel Dennett. These believers in religion as a “byproduct” would also include Stephen Jay Gould, who proposed the use of the term “spandrel” to describe traits that have no adaptive value of their own.
If religion is a byproduct or a “spandrel,” of what is it a byproduct or “spandrel” of? Psychologists have looked carefully at several candidates: agent detection, causal reasoning and theory of mind.
We see agents everywhere, it turns out, even in inanimate objects. The byproduct argument is …
In this short video, Max Blumenthal shows that there is no better way to find out what people are really like (really like) than to show up and watch them in action and listen to them. This video is called “The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour." The subject of…
The title to this post is from a bumper sticker shown in "Generation Chickenhawk," a video shot last week by Max Blumenthal. The scene? The College Republican National Convention in Washington D.C. Here's proof that our young Republicans love wars as long as others do the fighting. Blumental's ten-minute video…