On his book Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion
Cover Interview of October 23, 2017
In a nutshell
Based on an idea originally proposed by Charles Darwin, Evolving
Brains, Emerging Gods argues that the emergence of gods was an incidental
consequence of several evolutionary factors. Using data ranging from ancient
skulls and archeological artifacts to child development, primate studies and
brain imaging, the book traces how our evolving brain gave rise to new
cognitive abilities that in turn produced new behaviors. Ultimately these new
cognitive abilities led to the emergence of gods.
For example, approximately 1.8 million years ago a new
hominin, Homo erectus, emerged. This hominin made better stone tools than
its predecessors, made spears for hunting animals, controlled fire, and
migrated halfway around the world. It is likely that Homo erectus had
developed self-awareness. This cognitive ability may be a product of a special
neuron that is found predominantly in human brain areas known to be associated
with self-awareness. Intriguingly, this special neuron has also been found in
smaller numbers in the brains of bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans,
elephants and dolphins, all of which have demonstrated rudimentary
self-awareness using mirrors. It has not been found in animals that have shown
no self-awareness.
Similarly, approximately 40,000 years ago modern Homo
sapiens began exhibiting an extraordinary range of new behaviors in painted
caves, burials with grave goods, musical instruments, improved tools and
weapons, memory devices – an outpouring of human creativity without
precedent. It is likely that Homo sapiens had developed an
autobiographical memory, the ability to relive past events emotionally, and use
that information to plan the future. Humans had essentially conquered time,
giving them a tremendous advantage over all other hominins. Soon Homo
sapiens would stand alone as the last surviving hominin.
However, autobiographical memory was a two-edged sword. Once
Homo sapiens could project himself into the future he became aware for
the first time that he would die. Overwhelmed by this knowledge, he created an
afterlife and peopled it with his ancestors. This ultimately led to ancestor
worship. As people came together in towns and cities during the subsequent
agricultural revolution, the ancestors were arranged in a hierarchy with the
most powerful ultimately becoming the first gods.
Spontaneous generation is one of those wrong theories that clutter the basements of the biological sciences and that now look so very obviously wrong that it is hard to see how anyone could have taken them seriously in the first place. Why wouldn’t it occur to anyone that flies might be laying eggs that were too small for us to see? How simple would the crucial experiment be? What I have tried to do in much of my work is to turn this ‘obvious wrongness’ on its head—why, exactly, does it seem so obviously wrong?—and see what the new picture that emerges from that inquiry says about science and our belief in its results.Daryn Lehoux, Interview of November 13, 2017
It’s commonplace to say that humor is subjective, since what’s funny to you might not be funny to me. But humor is also a loaded concept. If you – or your people – have no sense of humor, or the wrong one, that means you’re less rational, tolerant, understanding, or civilized. You don’t get it. Or, worse, you lack something human. Modern Chinese debates about humor were very much caught up with these fundamental questions of value.Christopher Rea, Interview of October 26, 2016
In a nutshell
Based on an idea originally proposed by Charles Darwin, Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods argues that the emergence of gods was an incidental consequence of several evolutionary factors. Using data ranging from ancient skulls and archeological artifacts to child development, primate studies and brain imaging, the book traces how our evolving brain gave rise to new cognitive abilities that in turn produced new behaviors. Ultimately these new cognitive abilities led to the emergence of gods.
For example, approximately 1.8 million years ago a new hominin, Homo erectus, emerged. This hominin made better stone tools than its predecessors, made spears for hunting animals, controlled fire, and migrated halfway around the world. It is likely that Homo erectus had developed self-awareness. This cognitive ability may be a product of a special neuron that is found predominantly in human brain areas known to be associated with self-awareness. Intriguingly, this special neuron has also been found in smaller numbers in the brains of bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, elephants and dolphins, all of which have demonstrated rudimentary self-awareness using mirrors. It has not been found in animals that have shown no self-awareness.
Similarly, approximately 40,000 years ago modern Homo sapiens began exhibiting an extraordinary range of new behaviors in painted caves, burials with grave goods, musical instruments, improved tools and weapons, memory devices – an outpouring of human creativity without precedent. It is likely that Homo sapiens had developed an autobiographical memory, the ability to relive past events emotionally, and use that information to plan the future. Humans had essentially conquered time, giving them a tremendous advantage over all other hominins. Soon Homo sapiens would stand alone as the last surviving hominin.
However, autobiographical memory was a two-edged sword. Once Homo sapiens could project himself into the future he became aware for the first time that he would die. Overwhelmed by this knowledge, he created an afterlife and peopled it with his ancestors. This ultimately led to ancestor worship. As people came together in towns and cities during the subsequent agricultural revolution, the ancestors were arranged in a hierarchy with the most powerful ultimately becoming the first gods.