The Epidemiology of Faith
Faith, in particular in the religious sense, is a fascinating thing. Unquestioning belief in something for which there is no proof. And in many cases, unquestioning belief in things which are demonstrably false. In the modern world, which exists solely due to the quantifiable, objective success of Science, Faith like that requires some truly impressive feats of intellectual gymnastics. Yet billions of people, by far the majority of the people living on the planet, live their lives according to the demands and constraints of religions based solely on their Faith. Clearly this is something that demands a scientific explanation.
So what are the characteristics that we must explain? There are literally thousands of different religions, and they are wildly different. Fortunately the specific details of any one religion are irrelevant; we need to look at the common features. All claim to be the one and only true explanation for the origin and nature of the world (yet all the explanations are different). All religions invoke mystical or divine entities of some sort as the underlying explanation for everything in the world. All religions are based on, and/or make a host of, either unprovable or demonstrably incorrect statements. All exert (or try to) direct and immediate control over all aspects of personal and group behavior and their social interactions. Most, if not all, religions insist on unquestioning belief, and most use the implausibility of their tenets as a test of their adherent’s faith. In other words, the more absurd the beliefs you hold, and the more strongly you hold them, the more faithful you are. All religions purport to explain everything, and do to do so completely. All religions, once established, persist with remarkable fidelity from person to person, generation to generation, place to place. And we’re talking thousands of generations for some religions!
The scientific explanation starts with the meme, a term coined by Richard Dawkins in analogy to the biological gene to label a self-replicating piece of human culture. Simple examples include skateboarding, the scientific method, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Babe Ruth’s Curse on the Boston Red Sox, etc.. Any piece of culture can in principle be a meme, but the ones of interest are the successful ones; the ones that replicate themselves in lots of people’s minds and become a part of human culture. Successful memes are digital watches and rock music, unsuccessful memes are… um… well just look through the discount book bins at your local Outlet Mall (speaking of successful memes…!). Anyway, its safe to say that Religions can be classified as memes, and I’m going to coin the term remes to cover the general category of religious memes.
I will propose that there are three basic types of remes:
(1) General purpose remes. These probably were the precursors to the remes that comprise modern religions. Think of these as the “religious feeling” remes. These “prepare the ground” and/or “provide the tools” for the religion-specific remes by providing the ideas and thought processes that the more specific remes latch onto. Examples I’d like to propose include: God(s) and Devil(s), good and evil, Heaven and Hell, mysteries/miracles that are not to be solved, absence of proof being a virtue, religious devotion in life determining your fate in the afterlife, etc.
(2) Transmission remes. These provide a means for efficient transmission from person to person. Examples here include remes for: religious xenophobia (people who do not believe your religion are competition (or outright evil)), missionary/evangelical beliefs - believing people who do not belong to your religion must be “saved” or will suffer a horrible fate, infallibility of religious authority, allegiance to religious community, etc.
(3) Religion-specific remes. These are the remes that you see manifested in the daily activity of religion. Remes like symbols (crucifixes), rituals (praying at the wailing Wall, pilgrimage to Mecca), texts (Bible, Koran), prayers, stories, music, etc.
There is one other critical characteristic of remes that distinguished them from most other memes. Remes are entirely self-referential. Religions are “closed systems”; everything is explained by the religion, everything is explained in reference to the religion. Each religion is complete unto itself. This is unlike other, “open system” ways of looking at the world like Art or Science, where external inputs and cross-referencing occur all the time. Science and Art are open-ended, growing systems. Religions are immutable. This immutability, and the excellent fidelity with which religions are transmitted through time and space, is a critical attribute in understanding remes.
The other key to understanding remes is the mechanics of their transmission. Let’s start by clearing up any possible confusion right now - remes are not biological entities; they are ideas. They are not literally inherited. Religions are absorbed in early childhood directly from parents or religious authorities close to the family. No one adopts a religion by studying all the available options and selecting the one that makes the most sense.
As far as anyone can tell, and as the vast number of different religions testifies, children start out tabla rasa (blank slate). When very young, children absorb memes and remes from the outside world, and they are uniquely well adapted to do so. Children perform amazing feats of meme absorption. They learn language, culture, behavior, and information of all sorts and they do so en mass. They have to – human society is a complex thing, and it all needs to be learned as fast as possible for a child to survive. And given all the monumental variety of natural and cultural environments in which humans live, children NEED to be tabla rasa, and they need to absorb as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Young children are completely open to whatever memes they are exposed to, good, bad or ugly. You can tell little kids just about anything and they will believe it – think Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
So to summarize:
Religions are composed of a unique set of remes. Religions live in people’s brains. To survive, religions must be learned by other people’s brains. Children are born tabla-rasa and immersed in a culture filled with people who believe that religion. Children learn the religion and the cycle repeats. Religions use conversion and human reproduction to grow and spread. Different religions propagate and compete in the environment of human culture. The most successful religions are the ones that are most successful at generating new adherents. Any successful religion will be characterized by a set of beliefs that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
But wait, I can write that same paragraph in purely scientific, biological terms:
Viruses are comprised of a unique set of genes. Viruses live in peoples bodies. To survive, viruses must infect other people’s bodies. Children are born without an immune system and immersed in an environment filled with vectors infected with that virus. Children are infected by the virus and the cycle repeats. Viruses use infection and cellular reproduction to grow and spread. Different viruses propagate and compete in the environment of human beings. The most successful viruses are the ones that are most successful at infecting new hosts. Any successful virus will be characterized by a set of genes that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
Religions in human culture behave like viruses in human biology. I know it sounds ugly, but I do NOT mean it that way. Ignore the emotional baggage attached to viruses and simply think of them as a biologist (or computer scientist) does – objectively, without judgment. Viruses cannot reproduce themselves – they need a host. They are basically is a small package of DNA inside a protein shell containing just enough genes to use a host’s cellular machinery in order to make more copies of itself. The viral reme model of religion sounds like this:
R-viruses are comprised of a unique set of remes. R-viruses live in peoples brains. To survive, r-viruses must infect other people’s brains. Children are born without an immune system and immersed in an environment filled with vectors infected with that r-virus. Children are infected by the r-virus and the cycle repeats. R-viruses use infection and human reproduction to grow and spread. Different r-viruses propagate and compete in the environment of human culture. The most successful r-viruses are the ones that are most successful at infecting new hosts. Any successful r-virus will be characterized by a set of remes that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
In my opinion the analogy is absolutely compelling, and not just with respects to the mechanisms of religion, but to its effects on human society.
This analogy suggests an entirely new line of scientific research. It suggests the possibility of Theology becoming a Science: if the viral model of religion is correct, then, in what has to be the ultimate irony, religion can be studied by many of the most powerful tools of biology: evolutionary theory, ecology, and yes, epidemiology.
This is my version of Richard Dawkins’ Viruses of the Mind (Chapter 3.2 in A Devil’s Chaplain, Houghton-Mifflin, 2003). The chapter in that book is, in turn, a reprint of the original article in B. Dahlbom (ed.), Dennet and His Critics: Demystifying Mind (Oxford, Blackwell, 1993). This meme has been bubbling around in my mind for many years, but as usual, Richard beat me to it, and he did a better job. But I took a quite different tack, and I encourage you to read his article.
So what are the characteristics that we must explain? There are literally thousands of different religions, and they are wildly different. Fortunately the specific details of any one religion are irrelevant; we need to look at the common features. All claim to be the one and only true explanation for the origin and nature of the world (yet all the explanations are different). All religions invoke mystical or divine entities of some sort as the underlying explanation for everything in the world. All religions are based on, and/or make a host of, either unprovable or demonstrably incorrect statements. All exert (or try to) direct and immediate control over all aspects of personal and group behavior and their social interactions. Most, if not all, religions insist on unquestioning belief, and most use the implausibility of their tenets as a test of their adherent’s faith. In other words, the more absurd the beliefs you hold, and the more strongly you hold them, the more faithful you are. All religions purport to explain everything, and do to do so completely. All religions, once established, persist with remarkable fidelity from person to person, generation to generation, place to place. And we’re talking thousands of generations for some religions!
The scientific explanation starts with the meme, a term coined by Richard Dawkins in analogy to the biological gene to label a self-replicating piece of human culture. Simple examples include skateboarding, the scientific method, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Babe Ruth’s Curse on the Boston Red Sox, etc.. Any piece of culture can in principle be a meme, but the ones of interest are the successful ones; the ones that replicate themselves in lots of people’s minds and become a part of human culture. Successful memes are digital watches and rock music, unsuccessful memes are… um… well just look through the discount book bins at your local Outlet Mall (speaking of successful memes…!). Anyway, its safe to say that Religions can be classified as memes, and I’m going to coin the term remes to cover the general category of religious memes.
I will propose that there are three basic types of remes:
(1) General purpose remes. These probably were the precursors to the remes that comprise modern religions. Think of these as the “religious feeling” remes. These “prepare the ground” and/or “provide the tools” for the religion-specific remes by providing the ideas and thought processes that the more specific remes latch onto. Examples I’d like to propose include: God(s) and Devil(s), good and evil, Heaven and Hell, mysteries/miracles that are not to be solved, absence of proof being a virtue, religious devotion in life determining your fate in the afterlife, etc.
(2) Transmission remes. These provide a means for efficient transmission from person to person. Examples here include remes for: religious xenophobia (people who do not believe your religion are competition (or outright evil)), missionary/evangelical beliefs - believing people who do not belong to your religion must be “saved” or will suffer a horrible fate, infallibility of religious authority, allegiance to religious community, etc.
(3) Religion-specific remes. These are the remes that you see manifested in the daily activity of religion. Remes like symbols (crucifixes), rituals (praying at the wailing Wall, pilgrimage to Mecca), texts (Bible, Koran), prayers, stories, music, etc.
There is one other critical characteristic of remes that distinguished them from most other memes. Remes are entirely self-referential. Religions are “closed systems”; everything is explained by the religion, everything is explained in reference to the religion. Each religion is complete unto itself. This is unlike other, “open system” ways of looking at the world like Art or Science, where external inputs and cross-referencing occur all the time. Science and Art are open-ended, growing systems. Religions are immutable. This immutability, and the excellent fidelity with which religions are transmitted through time and space, is a critical attribute in understanding remes.
The other key to understanding remes is the mechanics of their transmission. Let’s start by clearing up any possible confusion right now - remes are not biological entities; they are ideas. They are not literally inherited. Religions are absorbed in early childhood directly from parents or religious authorities close to the family. No one adopts a religion by studying all the available options and selecting the one that makes the most sense.
As far as anyone can tell, and as the vast number of different religions testifies, children start out tabla rasa (blank slate). When very young, children absorb memes and remes from the outside world, and they are uniquely well adapted to do so. Children perform amazing feats of meme absorption. They learn language, culture, behavior, and information of all sorts and they do so en mass. They have to – human society is a complex thing, and it all needs to be learned as fast as possible for a child to survive. And given all the monumental variety of natural and cultural environments in which humans live, children NEED to be tabla rasa, and they need to absorb as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Young children are completely open to whatever memes they are exposed to, good, bad or ugly. You can tell little kids just about anything and they will believe it – think Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
So to summarize:
Religions are composed of a unique set of remes. Religions live in people’s brains. To survive, religions must be learned by other people’s brains. Children are born tabla-rasa and immersed in a culture filled with people who believe that religion. Children learn the religion and the cycle repeats. Religions use conversion and human reproduction to grow and spread. Different religions propagate and compete in the environment of human culture. The most successful religions are the ones that are most successful at generating new adherents. Any successful religion will be characterized by a set of beliefs that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
But wait, I can write that same paragraph in purely scientific, biological terms:
Viruses are comprised of a unique set of genes. Viruses live in peoples bodies. To survive, viruses must infect other people’s bodies. Children are born without an immune system and immersed in an environment filled with vectors infected with that virus. Children are infected by the virus and the cycle repeats. Viruses use infection and cellular reproduction to grow and spread. Different viruses propagate and compete in the environment of human beings. The most successful viruses are the ones that are most successful at infecting new hosts. Any successful virus will be characterized by a set of genes that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
Religions in human culture behave like viruses in human biology. I know it sounds ugly, but I do NOT mean it that way. Ignore the emotional baggage attached to viruses and simply think of them as a biologist (or computer scientist) does – objectively, without judgment. Viruses cannot reproduce themselves – they need a host. They are basically is a small package of DNA inside a protein shell containing just enough genes to use a host’s cellular machinery in order to make more copies of itself. The viral reme model of religion sounds like this:
R-viruses are comprised of a unique set of remes. R-viruses live in peoples brains. To survive, r-viruses must infect other people’s brains. Children are born without an immune system and immersed in an environment filled with vectors infected with that r-virus. Children are infected by the r-virus and the cycle repeats. R-viruses use infection and human reproduction to grow and spread. Different r-viruses propagate and compete in the environment of human culture. The most successful r-viruses are the ones that are most successful at infecting new hosts. Any successful r-virus will be characterized by a set of remes that ensure its faithful spread throughout human populations.
In my opinion the analogy is absolutely compelling, and not just with respects to the mechanisms of religion, but to its effects on human society.
This analogy suggests an entirely new line of scientific research. It suggests the possibility of Theology becoming a Science: if the viral model of religion is correct, then, in what has to be the ultimate irony, religion can be studied by many of the most powerful tools of biology: evolutionary theory, ecology, and yes, epidemiology.
This is my version of Richard Dawkins’ Viruses of the Mind (Chapter 3.2 in A Devil’s Chaplain, Houghton-Mifflin, 2003). The chapter in that book is, in turn, a reprint of the original article in B. Dahlbom (ed.), Dennet and His Critics: Demystifying Mind (Oxford, Blackwell, 1993). This meme has been bubbling around in my mind for many years, but as usual, Richard beat me to it, and he did a better job. But I took a quite different tack, and I encourage you to read his article.
posted by pkshuff at
11/12/2004 01:23:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Well said, SEMRQ. I like your definitions of Sprirituality & Religion. Although I must say that I don't think remes become viral when mutated by ego; the reme was viral to start with, but certainly how a reme is used (expressed?) by individuals (just like they can use a hand to build a school or shoot a gun) critically determines the... um... pathology(?) of the reme.
You also made a good point about transmission. I stand corrected. However, allow me to squirm a bit here - what I was thinking of was features that make an individual reme particularly attractive to, or "sticky" within, people's minds. Biological analogies would be the elaborate displays used in sexual competition - the classic example being the male peacock's tail feathers. The more-or-less non-functional (or even harmful - like martyrdom)trappings of religions are often the keys to their success.
Finally, while I absolutely agree that freedom of religion is a wonderful, and essential, thing. I do not believe it is a useful innoculation. Freedom of religion simply means that you can practice your religion without persecution... it says nothing about preventing you from practicing your religion at the expense of others. I am an Agnostic (in TH Huxley's original sense) and believe me there is plenty of the Tyranny of the Majority in this country. Fortunately the Founding Fathers had that covered as well with the Separation of Church and State. If properly applied it would make a pretty good vaccine... which is of course why some groups do everything they can to circumvent it.
Thanks for your insightful comments and feel free to take me to task anytime!
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