tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post6699881705035432619..comments2023-10-30T04:16:25.917-04:00Comments on Sentient Developments: Blackmore: I no longer believe religion is a virus of the mindGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003484633933455827noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-86391156545706586492010-09-22T16:45:28.262-04:002010-09-22T16:45:28.262-04:00This is really just semantics. Memes are not virus...This is really just semantics. Memes are not viruses, they're ideas. The virus analogy is a cultural standard, also applied to self-propagating computer programs.<br /><br />I think parasite and symbiont are more accurate analogies. (Daniel Dennett uses these.)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11603513734620676139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-22802951516446740722010-09-22T07:19:29.916-04:002010-09-22T07:19:29.916-04:00Agreed. First, there is no reason why a virus mus...Agreed. First, there is no reason why a virus must have exclusively negative effects.<br /><br />Second, is happiness necessarily beneficial? It's all very current to talk about happiness as the greatest benefit, but I dispute it.<br /><br />Just read Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, for some fine work on why happiness may not actually be beneficial.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04527450899504569727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-48481624577407714742010-09-22T05:41:13.162-04:002010-09-22T05:41:13.162-04:00Susan Blackmore has a problem with logical thinkin...Susan Blackmore has a problem with logical thinking. That religions are viruses of the mind, has been ... er ... let's say, wrong from the beginning. Now she says, she has been wrong *because* "religious people are happier and possibly even healthier than secularists ...". This is not conclusive. And, by the way, I, myself, am *not* religious.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07268232222770393210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-8931790686154489192010-09-22T03:21:10.975-04:002010-09-22T03:21:10.975-04:00this is susan blackmore, again challenging herself...this is susan blackmore, again challenging herself, in 2001:<br /><br />http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Chapters/Kurtz.htm<br /><br />i greatly admire her willingness to re-examine her views, something that one does not do lightly, but there's no guarantee that the change will be correct.<br /><br />are we certain that religiosity is the cause increased happiness, health and generosity -- or simply a correlation with other factors that must be accounted for? <br /><br />i had taken the use of the term 'virus' was intended to illustrate that this is probably not a necessary trait for our survival, but a by product of other traits that are, and not to be analyzed as corresponding to a biological virus in the literal sense.<br /><br />bacteria? another term? whatever best describes the phenomenon.helensotiriadishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07740816003291428890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-1726922042035011882010-09-22T00:44:28.741-04:002010-09-22T00:44:28.741-04:00Religion and supernatural thinking seem to be a si...Religion and supernatural thinking seem to be a side-effect of the way minds are "constructed" rather than a "software add-on." There is no Tabula Rasa. We come pre-configured to be fanatics, or not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com