Why do Intelligent People still Believe in Religion? Part 36: The Social Brain

[gwhyhate]

There is a ton of stuff out there that we don't know about. I hear people say that they don't believe religion because it is made up to control people, but they heard someone say that at some point and now they believe THAT instead. It goes both ways. Let's grow and expand our knowledge, but at the same time let's not forget where we came from and some of the things that have inspired us to be more than we are perpetually indefinitely. Peace and love.

[anubis2814]

@gwhyhate To say there is so much we don't know, really doesn't help us much. There is actually so much we do know, and its growing all of the time but most people remain blissfully ignorant of the new knowledge we possess and still remain in fantasy land. Changing your mind based on new evidence is hard if you haven't trained your mind to do so. Evidence will change with new technology and research which is effected by new evidence. We should focus on the stuff we do know and not the unknown

[d007ization]

You really like cats. Or the internet anyway. Brilliant series anyway.

[badzulu44]

This is great!

[purplederple]

After watching this video, I have concluded that I am you, as a teenager. You breathe new insight into my life and when you talk about yourself you're talking about me. I know you're not really talking about me, I'm not some delusional theist. You deserve more subs.

[anubis2814]

@purplederple Thanks, there was a lot of bullshit, emotional pain and ignorance i had to go through in my developing years. If I can lessen that for someone else then I have done my job.

[LibertyNeedsRestorin]

@anubis2814 I found this for the most part pretty accurate, except it seems like you state to much as fact, as an atheist you also subscribe to a beleif, that there is nothing, but as a deep thinker, you should never 100% subscribe to something, you have to question everything, consciousness comes down to basically two theories, emergent, and fundamental. Recently the quantum consciousness theory, which beleives it is fundamental, and suggests some sort of higher consciousness, has been

[LibertyNeedsRestorin]

@anubis2814 Pt 2. gaining a lot of popularity, check out Stuart Hameroffs interview on quantuam consciousness, its an hour but it is worth it if you can understand the material which most would find difficult.

[skyelander00]

@purplederple Yep. That's me as a teen too. Trust me, it just gets harder and harder to be a freethinker. Wait until you girlfriend refuses to believe you on this! lol

[PlanetBongoSan]

I will totally buy your book

[mojosideburns]

Love it. I subscribed to you a bit late to catch the whole series....yet. But I will buy the book, you deserve the cash for the hard work. I remember when I first subbed you had posted on my wall that the vids will help, well, they have. Thank you. Peace.

[anubis2814]

@mojosideburns Well the series is still there for free. Definately watch it. There is a playlist of it on my page as well.

[dgeypscun]

great work! I can't wait for the book!

[TheFaithCheck]

Brilliant.

[dayati]

I love this series. I'm excited to see how the book format will turn out. Seeing as how you are so open to discussion and learning as much as you are into teaching, would you consider an "open source" editorial process? This way the crowd can help you edit and refine your points so that when you publish on paper, your points are as strong as possible.

[anubis2814]

@dayati We have one, its called the comments section. I actually went through and read all the comments to make alterations needed.

[QuestionRenee]

Ah, dude, can this book be free to download on smart phones? :c

[anubis2814]

@QuestionRenee As pretty much all the info in this book is free in this series in raw format then yes. I'm putting it in book format cleaner and with sourcing so I can make a bit of money off of it. Its sort of a way to get donations for the weeks worth of work I put into the series.

[badboy0nline]

Good luck with your book. You are awesome

[099923257457]

I have never been on of those sheep I only go with the group as it has proved good reason to do so. This caused me great problems because if group start acting stupid I am never afraid of speaking out. Unlike most people am uneffected by peer persure. Even when the group come down on me I am not bothed by it.

[MinervaInTheBrain]

"Still fucking monkeys" no pun intended?

[gleehmee]

What is CFI? I think I missed that one.

[anubis2814]

@gleehmee center for inquiry, its a great free thinkers group though I think Indianapolis is one of the only cities with a permanent center. Look them up on google.

[gleehmee]

@anubis2814 thanks :)

[gleehmee]

You're not blind for not bothering to think about stuff, you just don't care about the stuff.

[Primalxbeast]

I'm not into that fitting in thing. My bumper sticker says, You laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you're all the same.

So I guess I'm stuck with flippen gossip I'm so sick of listening to. It's really bad if you're female, because women never STFU even when they're on the john taking a dump. If they didn't drag somebody into the bathroom with them, they're gabbing away on the phone. I've stopped doing courtesy flushes in hopes that they'll STFU, take care of business, and leave.

[jonybrown]

I am an Atheist but I am not angry.

[anubis2814]

@jonybrown Did you deconvert? Most of the time you have to go through an angry period if you do.

[jonybrown]

@anubis2814 Oh well If I stay I around with those nuts, I would exploit but I look depth into myself and I create my own happiness. I like being myself and I am happy with what and who I got. I like your videos because sometime I can relate and you stimulate my thinking. Thanks NZ

[ChathSuaco]

I agree with your idea to make this series into a book. I'd be happy to buy it! Just tell me how much it costs and send me a link and I'll see about ordering one in the future.

[Miryr]

It seems you won't be publishing the book online for free. May I know the rationale behind this decision? It can't really be because of the money, authors rarely make a good profit out of books. If you are betting on that you are betting against the odds. Either way, it's your decision but in the end I say you could make a bigger impact if you were somehow to publish it online.

[anubis2814]

@Miryr For not publishing it for free? or for not publishing it online. Most of the information in the book is already free in this format, though in a rougher format with little cite sourcing. but I'd like to make a little money for my efforts cause I've been working on this site for over 2 years and put in a lot of time and energy. I will start off with Promethus books, the publishing wing of CFI, who printed a few of Dakins books, then look for an agent. If it fails I'll do Lulu.

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, I'm a big fan of your work. The reason I'm overly assertive in this particular issue is because I believe in freedom of information. Nonetheless, I can understand the perspective you are coming from. However, might I suggest doing something like Dimitry Glukhovsky? He publishes books online for free and he also sells them, though his readership online is five times as big as it is in physical form

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 I also forgot to add that this isn't such an unreasonable request. I mean, statistically speaking only 30% of all books published actually make any sort of profit. Google "percentage of books that make profit", the first result, if you don't believe me. Either way, to reiterate, the final decision rests with you. I just wanted to see your logic behind it.

[anubis2814]

@Miryr How does that work? Like I said, most of the book is free on this channel already just in a rougher format, If I can get an agent and publicity then the book should sell, if I can't then I'll sell it through LuLu (a self publishing company) where people can either buy it in print or PDF format.

[Miryr]

@anubis2814 Just to put things into perspective: let's assume you publish your book and it becomes successful. You will get around 10% of each sale, let's imagine your book costs around $10. A successful nonfiction book sells 7500 copies. You'll have worked on this book for around two years. So, 7500/24=312.5 You'd end up gaining 5 days worth of minimum wage each month that you worked (assuming minimum wage is $7.25 per hour) and this is still a best case scenario.

[bjam89]

What can't you use with Godwin's law? someone give me something that is immune to that law anything

[anubis2814]

@bjam89 My guess the only thing is someone who actually considers themselves a neo-nazi. Them comparing them to a nazi is kind of pointless.

[savageecho]

@bjam89 I'm kinda late to the party on this...

Loving a jew/homosexual/gypsy/black while being ethnicly white?

[bjam89]

@savageecho i can still see some moron use Godwins law on it after all there is a bunch of morons out there there is bound to be someone that has no real idea what the Nazi party was about

[savageecho]

@bjam89 HA. Yeah, you're probably right. So there is nothing safe from Godwin's Law...

[bjam89]

@savageecho oh i can see fox do Godwins law on someone white who is married to a same sex Jewish somewhat different person (like autism or MS or something else that makes you non NT) that has a mother of the Romani people (Gypsy) and a father from some tribe in Africa (no idea on the tribes in Africa) and what they are trying to do is...something like medicare and they just happen to janes (they too use swastika)

[bobsmeerfak]

Dude, your videos are so damned good. Keep it up.

[AvatarOfAvatar]

Fear is a greater motivator than intelligence. 

[GohModley]

Glad yer back. Love your stuff.

[insanewarlock666]

have you read an article called "Chaos & cyber culture" by Timothy Leary? it's MUST READ! I've read only part of it but is shocked me!

[Londron]

It's always good to be critical enough to realize where the ways you feel come from.

Psychology FTW.

[unassumption]

We can definitely learn from religion (like the Nazis did, to please Glenn Beck at the end) it's only the metaphysical parts that are false after-all.

What is the natural variation on the desire for social interaction? Asking this as you're autistic, so probably represent close to the minimum desire. Would it be good if humans were more often free thinkers, or is it the kind of trait that's beneficial only in low frequencies?

Good luck on the book dude.

[anubis2814]

@unassumption No free thinking is a luxury where you don't rely on the tribe for your survival. All of our evolutionary adaptations are purely survival based. When we have the luxury to be able to survive on our own then its good to be free thinking but many don't because our survival evolution is so strong.

As for social threshold, mine used to be a lot lower but my gf dragged me out to interact more. This increased my social ability but decreased time to naval gaze and also depression

[DavidRandallCurtis]

Great video!

[unassumption]

head the 2/3 figure before, how widely replicated is that? If social system is the driver of logic it would explain why logic problems are easier to solve if phrased as social ones, but how safe an extrapolation from the gossip thing is it, you have other data for that right?

[Artifactorfiction]

I'm playing catch up with this series - got to 17 so far - top class series - good luck with the book

[HorrorIllogium]

This is an awesome series

[PinkProgram]

So this is why humans don't listen to me when I call for Upgrade? Well it explains the drama that keep flowing around :3

[jaymthegenius]

Also, fundie pastors such as Rick Warren who despise the poor and agree with reducing the minimum wage (which many corporations want to abuse by actually hiring at that rate) are Spartan Pagans in Christian drag. These Evangelical pastors such as Benny Hinn are proles who fleece their fellow prole.

[jaymthegenius]

Don't you think your stance on religion is overly simplistic? Quakers and high and broad church Episcopalians, especially the schools encourage critical thinking and the process of problem solving. They wrestle with and frequently tackle many theological complications, and classes such as, "God and Man" attempt to reconcile religion and the Bible with a modern day environment and value system. Many mainline churches today support social justice and progress, which Jesus would support.

[anubis2814]

@jaymthegenius Religion? No I don't, hence why the series discusses intelligent people believing in religion. If I was over simplifying it, It would have been why do complete morons believe?



[jaymthegenius]

Just remember that it isn't enough to write a book, you need a strong business sense and good marketing. The light bulb didn't make Thomas Edison rich, his very rare business savvy, penchant for eliminating roadblocks to success, organizational abilities, and his business marketing the light bulb made him rich.

[anubis2814]

@jaymthegenius Well I'm going to go through an agent if I can. Promethus books which is the publishing wing of CFI might be interested. If it all fails, I figure I'll just post it on Lulu and sell it to my subscribers on here. I figure I can get something for my hard work. Since I'm too idealistic I block so may revenue sharing ads I have only made 1 cent of my videos in the last month so I switched to my old format with copyright content.

[spamllpitdept]

loool that pic of a sheep trying to warn the rest of the flock that the man and dog are working together is super cute. Got a link to the full pic so I can download it?

[Schneboll]

2:55 "Their findings were quite surprising; it turns out that two thirds of the communication people had was gossip."

Oh snap, I feel struck and so does the rest of humanity. :)

[shanellypooh]

Good luck with your book.

[saintpine]

Wow, years to write a book.

must be something good.

[anubis2814]

@saintpine Its a mix of being super busy, biting off a large chunk of information I need to back up, making new material and being lazy haha.