E41: Every Theory of Everything Ever - The Evolution of Religions

The Dawdler's Philosophy

Man does not live by bread alone. He also lives with social anxiety and is a bit of a control freak. These neuroses fuel him too. Oh, and lies. This is also critical. Lies must be told. How else can you get people to do shit you don’t want to?

In this episode you will be treated to a Pre-Covid discussion had back in December of 2019 that these Dawdlers were too lazy to knit together into a fine piece of auditory (f)art. The topic? Religion and explanations for its creation and subsequent changes.

Enjoy your lockdowns. Oh, and don’t forget to treat others the way you wish to be treated. And if you wish to be treated like shit then too bad for the others, amirite?

-Dawdlers

00:04:21 – Defining terms // What is Religion? // What is culture?

00:12:48 – Asking questions // Tinbergen’s “Four Questions” // Origin, spread, and maintenance // Traits – morphology, physiology, behavioral, life history

00:23:05 – Hypotheses // David Sloan Wilson’s “Adaptive vs. Non-Adaptive” framing // Adaptive Hypothesis (AH) 1: “The Watcher” // AH2: “The Organism” // AH3: “The Parasite” // AH4: “The Useful Fiction” // AH5: “The Echo” // Non-Adaptive Hypothesis (NH) 1: “The Dinosaur” // NH2: “The Blind Matthew”

01:17:09 – Winners & Losers // Everything is happening, everyone’s a winner // Ameliorating fear makes sense and shit just happens…