COLIN BLAKEMORE 2009 03 11 THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS

As a spin-off from Channel 4’s “History of Christianity” episode 7, Colin Blakemore was the guest speaker at the March meeting.
He started with some comments about the danger of turning science into an alternative religion [OK by me, I thought, if both science and all the religions respect and value each other!]
Colin’s interest is in every aspect of how the mind works. It is not evident that anything about the mind makes it inexplicable by scientific methods.
Belief structures stem from the human need to pattern our experience. Means of communication (language, gestures, dance, ritual, etc) confer evolutionary benefits – cohesion and continuity. Belief in the existence of the supernatural does not have obvious advantages, and may arise from (a) consciousness of a longer span than one life-time, (b) extrapolation of awareness that other people act intentionally as I believe I do, so that we look for a personal agent for all events. Worldwide, language is intentional in structure.
Colin added that there has been little genetic change in homo sapiens for 100 000 years. Culture, language, printing, and now IT have led to changes in the way our brains organise themselves. (Dawkins recognises 4 000 ‘nims’).