Vonnegut says that a "foma" is a harmless untruth that sooths simple souls.
Dennett uses the image of Dumbo believing that the magic crow feather makes him fly.
Believing that the Creator of the Universe is really on your side in your struggles to make it in the world gives you a lot of confidence. Confidence is a necessary ingredient to success in practically anything worthwhile. The belief gives confidence which breeds success which reinforces the belief.
I would leave them to their beliefs if only they would change their ways about sex, pleasure, and the planet.
Showing posts with label Sex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sex. Show all posts
Jane Austen and Male Self-Control
Jane Austen describes a world that is strangely parallel to modern conservative Islamic societies: if a young woman has sex prior to marriage or even marries the wrong man, she brings shame upon not just herself but the entire family -- and that will ruin their chances to make it in society.
There are obvious differences, of course, including the costumes. Austen's women wear beautiful dresses that flaunt their cleavage. Conservative Muslim women hide their entire bodies, sometimes leaving only a slit to peer through from their burqas. Austen's Christians put their faith in male self-control, even if those men have been drinking. Muslims assume that men have no self-control, and so they ban alcohol and hide the women.
We in the west have inherited this tradition. Thousands of generations of men in the west have been told that they can mold their own character, and that doing so is important to yourself and to others. By contrast, Muslim men have been taught that they cannot control themselves. Furthermore, that someone else is to blame for their errors.
There are obvious differences, of course, including the costumes. Austen's women wear beautiful dresses that flaunt their cleavage. Conservative Muslim women hide their entire bodies, sometimes leaving only a slit to peer through from their burqas. Austen's Christians put their faith in male self-control, even if those men have been drinking. Muslims assume that men have no self-control, and so they ban alcohol and hide the women.
We in the west have inherited this tradition. Thousands of generations of men in the west have been told that they can mold their own character, and that doing so is important to yourself and to others. By contrast, Muslim men have been taught that they cannot control themselves. Furthermore, that someone else is to blame for their errors.
Make Love Not War
Biologists are beginning to demonstrate that certain parts of the human body are just poorly designed -- such as a knee joint that doesn't support our weight very well. (Compare how long a horse can stand.) We are this way as a result of our evolutionary history -- what Dawkins calls "The Blind Watchmaker."
Our memes can be poorly designed, too. They can be relics of a time when they were more useful. For example, a hatred of homosexuality is often manifested as a hatred of sex for pleasure. They believe that sex is for procreation, not recreation. (No abortions, no birth control, no homosexuality, no masturbation, etc.) This meme may have been useful when the human population was very low. But with over 6 billion people on the planet, things are different.
Let us jettison the sexual meme "sex is for procreation, not recreation." Today we need more happiness and fewer babies. Unlike our knee joints, we can chose to change our beliefs.
Our memes can be poorly designed, too. They can be relics of a time when they were more useful. For example, a hatred of homosexuality is often manifested as a hatred of sex for pleasure. They believe that sex is for procreation, not recreation. (No abortions, no birth control, no homosexuality, no masturbation, etc.) This meme may have been useful when the human population was very low. But with over 6 billion people on the planet, things are different.
Let us jettison the sexual meme "sex is for procreation, not recreation." Today we need more happiness and fewer babies. Unlike our knee joints, we can chose to change our beliefs.
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