I’m not completely familiar with the God gene theory but from what I have read it makes some sense – IF you think believing in God will up your chances of reproducing.

Are societies with Gods more likely to survive than ones without Gods?

Any set of genes that can successfully work together in such a way as to get a better chance to be made copies of (that’s us – just machines to make gene copies) they’ll obviously be preserved in the genome and spread in the population.

My gut feeling is that (A) there is no single god gene (so unfortunately it can’t be knocked out of the genome :) so in essence there would be a set (B) these genes probably didn’t evolve to foster a God but rather to do something more practical. For example, humans are curious – which is good and we can see the benefits that go along with curiosity. But humans are also lazy – which is also good (in moderation) it would be of no use to be so curious as to starve to death screwing around trying to find an answer – I mean there’s animals to be killed and eaten, why worry over why things tickle. So some laziness is good.

Now if we combine curiosity with laziness we get Christianity :D

But really, has anyone else read up on the God Gene Theory?

I've read up on it, we are into the realms of fantasy.
the same man came out with the gay-gene some years ago, and that was refuted.
however M*W mentioned a drug produced by humans that some people have too much of, and therefore more inclined to believe in a fantasy figure or figures, which acts on the brain like LSD inducing hulcinations.
a so called god drug. this was extremly interesting reading.
I do some research and get back to you on it.

Ah yes, the 'god gene'.. dreamed up by a supposed scientist who has dreamed up other such nonsenses.. all of which have been shown as blatant hogwash.

Seriously, it's like having hitler teaching you how to love a jew.

There's a thread around here by Sufi which shows just how much of a joke this guy is.

SnakeLord: Ah yes, the 'god gene'.. dreamed up by a supposed scientist who has dreamed up other such nonsenses.. all of which have been shown as blatant hogwash.

Seriously, it's like having hitler teaching you how to love a jew.

There's a thread around here by Sufi which shows just how much of a joke this guy is.
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M*W: The October 2004 issue of Time magazine has a story on the God Gene. Make's sense to me.

...the same man came out with the gay-gene some years ago, and that was refuted....

Mothers' genetic skew linked to gay sons
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996612

“I’m not absolutely persuaded, but it’s an interesting hypothesis,” says Ian Craig of the Institute of Psychiatry in London. “Until you’ve got some molecular way to test it, it’s just a nice idea.”

I do not believe that there is a god-gene, alas, there might be something that could be called a god-complex or a god-psychose. Created by the subjective mind of a person, but not a whole gene.
A god-complex would be something like a daydream, an evocation of a certain part of the human mind which is amplified in a moment of external lack and comes forth as a manifestation of god...just as a thesis...

But hey, nowadays, you can blame genes for practically everything.

Instead of a gene, we could say that the idea of God or Gods is representative of the tendency for humans to view almost everything anthropomorphically. This is probably due to the large areas of the brain devoted to social thinking.

The god gene isn't a gene and is better described as the absence of the critical thinking gene.

However, there is a portion of the human brain that can generate spiritual like hallucinations which many mistake as external voices from their god. Epileptics often experience TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) which is a brain malfunction that causes such hallucinatiions, the most famous victim was Mohammed who founded the Islamic religion on such hallucinations - such is the idiocy of religious belief.

Cris: The god gene isn't a gene and is better described as the absence of the critical thinking gene.

However, there is a portion of the human brain that can generate spiritual like hallucinations which many mistake as external voices from their god. Epileptics often experience TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) which is a brain malfunction that causes such hallucinatiions, the most famous victim was Mohammed who founded the Islamic religion on such hallucinations - such is the idiocy of religious belief.
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M*W: And don't forget Saul/Paul from Tarsus. He created christianity after he fell from his horse on the Road to Damascus from an epileptic seizure.

Ask the Jews in 1940 if they are more likely to survive for their fath :-)

Find a protein that yeilds faith ;)

Cris: The god gene isn't a gene and is better described as the absence of the critical thinking gene.

However, there is a portion of the human brain that can generate spiritual like hallucinations which many mistake as external voices from their god. Epileptics often experience TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) which is a brain malfunction that causes such hallucinatiions, the most famous victim was Mohammed who founded the Islamic religion on such hallucinations - such is the idiocy of religious belief.
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M*W: Cris, I would like to hear more about what you've read concerning the god gene.

I'm not sure Mohammed experienced an imbalance of DMT, probably he was just a pathological narcissist.

Looks like they were looking for something else....is there a name for the gene?
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/14/ngod14.xml

I didn't find anything nameing the gene. How far along is the theory? So little info on it yall find anything?

found a possible name for the gene here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/14/ngod14.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/14/ixnewstop.html

gene might be called VMAT2 the person saying that in the article was Dr Dean Hamer., His homepage is here.

http://rex.nci.nih.gov/RESEARCH/basic/biochem/hamer.htm

audible: however M*W mentioned a drug produced by humans that some people have too much of, and therefore more inclined to believe in a fantasy figure or figures, which acts on the brain like LSD inducing hulcinations. a so called god drug. this was extremly interesting reading. I do some research and get back to you on it.
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M*W: If this gene or DMT is naturally found in the human brain, I wonder what happens when you lose your belief in god? Does the gene or neurochemical get damaged or atrophied in some way? Just a thought. I think endorphins play a role in 'ecstatic' visions. People who are seriously bipolar go the whole range from agony to ecstacy (and back again).

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/World/FK15Wd03.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/14/ngod14.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/14/ixnewstop.html
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/14/15/2459

In the last link if you go to the section after abstract titled vmat2 it goes really into detail as to what it is. I am still reading it but wanted to post the link now.

I found a number of vmat2 links involving cocaine study but didn't read them or post them.

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M*W: If the human brain has the ability to activate the god gene, that would mean the human mind is omniscient and can create anything it desires -- if we let it.

I’m not completely familiar with the God gene theory but from what I have read it makes some sense – IF you think believing in God will up your chances of reproducing.

Are societies with Gods more likely to survive than ones without Gods?



No I haven't read on the God gene theory but I was interested in your question about whether societies with Gods are more likely to survive. It made me think. (believe me that is saying something!) :m:

I think that this would depend on the type of God you believe in. I think that a society that is based on violence, has a tendency towards war and such; would have to be the least likely to last. Whereas a peaceful society that fears damnation might last longer because they aren't as apt to wipe out, or get wiped out by, neighbors.

Now obviously if a warring Godless nation sits next to a God fearing peaceful nation, then there will probably eventually be a vacancy in the peaceful nation.

BUT.. and it's a BIG but.. (well not as big as my wife's)

In the end, I think that if mankind has any hope of survival, it must be done through finding a lasting realistic peace between ALL nations. I don't think that will ever happen so I think eventually we'll have to ask the cockroaches this question. :D

Mark

Never mind a so-called god gene. what we NEEd to know is what is going ON. the propaganda. How we are misled by the powers and their media
so people really on the front line of this are so despearate they aint got TIMe to think of no god gene
so it behoves us to really explore stuff...for example, Arundhati Roy, check out here talks online

If we get lost in God gene stuff then we are falling WELL into the prominent reductionist shit that is mechanistic science. NOT that it is all wrong, but that it tries to impose mechanistic understanding on EVERYHING, even the spiritual, even Us who are seen by IT as being merely biochemical machines

also checkout this which i found today about how Inymedia was spooked by the dominators in October
We the People, Indymedia, and the neoliberal project' www.globalresearch.ca/articles/M00410A.html

might be related....

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/25/science.genes.reut/index.html

infidelity theory in genes?

robtex: might be related....

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/25/science.genes.reut/index.html

infidelity theory in genes?
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M*W: So, does that imply everything we think of and then act on could be in our genes, kind of like genetic memory? I believe our human brain has collective genetic memory, and everything we could possibly desire has been pre-programmed in our genes. It's a theory, but considering collective mind of humanity, some have desires to express themselves in science, others desire to express themselves in art and/or music. Others have desires to become parents, which is a common desire, and we are programmed to propagate the species and all. Like the cave men and women (or is it pc to call them 'cavepersons?) who hunted and gathered. Our genetic memory still has us hunting and gathering things other than food (like shopping). Are our genes also pre-programmed for gender identity? I believe so. Man has always wanted to venture away to farther places (probably to search for food), so did our collective genes show the Wright Brothers how to create the airplane and Ford the automobile? Are some people programmed to heal and others to kill?

The link you posted seems to imply that genes are the cause of infidelity. Could that simply mean we have the gene to propagate the species? If everything we do is related to some gene we have, then there really is no free will, but that would mean that the collective consciousness of humanity IS god and not some evil anthropomorphic judgmental creator-type being.

MW Richard Dawkins said the same thing in phrase "selfish Gene" (title of a book). In it he had a hypothesis that genes, as opposed to organisms or species, were the primary beneficiaries of the evolutionary process
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

none of them specifically adressed free will.

I think though that maybe it would be more apt to say we have the propensity to or are inclined to as opposed to we are foced to or pre-destined to (do this or that).