Suppose God does not exist, just for the sake of argument. To be more accurate, suppose that all the major religions are just playing a guessing game, and everything they say about 'God' is just a fairy tale and none of it is true.
Taking a step further, suppose that there are no morals either. Suppose that there is nothing inherently wrong in killing another person.
Going into more improbable territory, suppose that human beings are not completely stupid. That is to say, assume that some people are capable of being smart, some of the time. Suppose that some people can be rational.
It must be quite clear that I say that a lot of people are irrational. I do not mean it as disrespect to anyone, but look around and you know that people are not rational. I subscribe to evolution, and I think human beings have not evolved enough for the entire population to be as rational as we usually think we are.
Imagine the world that we have just supposed: There is no God, there are no morals, and some people are smart. Would this world be different from the one we currently live in? How different would it be?
Think about a game of football. Suppose you're playing the game. Your aim is to score as many goals as you can, and also make sure the other team does not score any goals. Suppose you hate all your teammates and you don't want to work with them, and it's the same story with the rest of the people on the team. You don't pass the ball to your teammates, and you tackle them whenever you get the chance. Now, suppose the other team is not like yours, and they are all good friends and they co-ordinate well amongst each other.
Assuming that all the players in both the teams are at the same skill level, the other team will easily win the game.
What can you take away from that game of football? When you share a common goal with others, you improve your chance of achieving it if you co-operate with the others. This is what happens with any regular football team- all of them want to win the match, and they help each other. But they don't all run after the ball. One guy has to be the goal-keeper, some of them have to be defenders. Even the attackers don't always get a shot to score, they usually pass to the striker. While each player would want the glory of scoring, they sacrifice that desire, because they realize that they will definitely lose if all 11 players just run after the ball. They all stick to their roles and take pride in the team's victory, rather than think about how many goals each of them scored.
In the world without God and morals, there are still some smart people who can realize that if they want to survive, it is better to team up with the others. If you are stranded with 10 other people on a deserted island, you can fight with the rest of them till there's only one person left alive. But after this happens, how long will that single person be able to survive?
If the group of stranded people had a few smart ones, they could persuade the others to work together- to help each other to survive, just like in the game of football. Except that it is not about winning, it's about surviving. It's not against another team, but against nature, or may be a tribe that lives on the island that doesn't like outsiders.
You can see this kind of living anywhere you look. Team sports- everyone in the team takes up a role so that the team wins. War- each soldier protects the others, sticks to his orders, and carries his mission out. Lions - they hunt together, defend each other, and protect their territory. Bees- some go looking for nectar, one lays eggs, some look after the infants, and if there is a disturbance, all of them attack the invader. Ants- same as bees.
Working together means that the members of the team must support each other. Over time, they grow to have faith in each other. A lion knows that the other members in the pride will support it when it attacks a bigger animal, like a buffalo. A soldier knows that if he tries to advance to the enemy lines, others will cover him. The striker in a football game knows that the other attackers will pass the ball to him when he is in good position to score.
But the whole team thing comes with a price. Some rules need to be set up, roles need to be assigned. In a football game, the players are assigned roles (based on their skills, unless the captain or the manager is corrupt). Each of them may want to score as many goals as he can, but he does not do that, because then the team breaks down.
The rules in the football game are quite straight-forward. Goal-keeper saves, defenders and attackers pass, striker scores. But with the people stranded on the island, it is not so simple. They need a more elaborate set of rules. First, they need to get food. Some of them may not be as good as the others in hunting. Should these people be left to starve, or should the others share their food with them? Suppose there are 3 women and 8 men, and each of the men wants to have one (or more) of the women to be their partner? How do they decide who gets who and who is left without a partner? Should the men fight to the death? Play a sophisticated version of rock-paper-scissors? Have a hunting contest? Or should the women be allowed to choose? Will the men without a partner respect that decision? Suppose they finally managed to gather enough material to build a canoe to escape the island, but it can only carry 8 out of the 11 people. Which 8 should be allowed to use it?
These and a lot of other difficult situations tend to arise when people team up. Each person has desires that cannot be met with the available resources. They could settle these things with a fight to the death. Or, they can all agree on a set of rules that they will all stick to. Let's call these rules, 'Morals'. People can always decide not to follow the rules, and even if a few of them stop following the rules, the team can easily break down. So, make up another rule- If someone does not follow the Morals, the rest of them beat the crap out of him.
Suppose that this group of 11, stranded on the island, managed to survive and reproduce. A 100 years later, when the original 11 have passed away, there's a larger population that doesn't really appreciate all the rules. What if someone is not happy with the rules? Or if he is too strong or fast for the others to beat him up? If he's secretly breaking the rules? Or, if he's not breaking any of the rules and someone else accuses him of breaking the rules? What if one of them is not scared of the others anymore and decides to do whatever he wants- starting with stealing their food and forcing the women? And just beating him doesn't work.
Here's an idea- Tell them that there is an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do. And the 'Morals' were actually rules that the invisible man had given to the people. And there is a special place called hell, far away from the island and in the depths of the earth, for anyone who breaks the rules. And people who break the rules go to hell and will be tortured for eternity.
The people don't buy it? Make it more appealing. The invisible man is not all evil. If you stick to the rules, he takes you to another place where you can enjoy in any way you want to. And as a side note, tell them that the invisible man talks to you and everything you say is true. They still don't buy it? Make a deal with some of the others- tell them you will help them if they spread the rumor that there really is an invisible man who is all-knowing and all-powerful, and he talks to you. How do you help these guys who spread the rumors? Simple- tell the people that the invisible man told you that your supporters must be allowed to rule the rest of the people- The divine right to rule.
The story of the 11 people on the deserted island, this could very well be the story of the world without God and Morals, with a few smart people. And if you can imagine this world- where smart people realize that it is easier to work as a team, and that teams need rules, and that these rules can be made more appealing to the people if you say that they come from an all-knowing, all-powerful invisible man in the sky who will give them all kinds of pleasures if they stick to the rules, and all kinds of pain if they break the rules; how different will this world be from the world we live in today?
Taking a step further, suppose that there are no morals either. Suppose that there is nothing inherently wrong in killing another person.
Going into more improbable territory, suppose that human beings are not completely stupid. That is to say, assume that some people are capable of being smart, some of the time. Suppose that some people can be rational.
It must be quite clear that I say that a lot of people are irrational. I do not mean it as disrespect to anyone, but look around and you know that people are not rational. I subscribe to evolution, and I think human beings have not evolved enough for the entire population to be as rational as we usually think we are.
Imagine the world that we have just supposed: There is no God, there are no morals, and some people are smart. Would this world be different from the one we currently live in? How different would it be?
Think about a game of football. Suppose you're playing the game. Your aim is to score as many goals as you can, and also make sure the other team does not score any goals. Suppose you hate all your teammates and you don't want to work with them, and it's the same story with the rest of the people on the team. You don't pass the ball to your teammates, and you tackle them whenever you get the chance. Now, suppose the other team is not like yours, and they are all good friends and they co-ordinate well amongst each other.
Assuming that all the players in both the teams are at the same skill level, the other team will easily win the game.
What can you take away from that game of football? When you share a common goal with others, you improve your chance of achieving it if you co-operate with the others. This is what happens with any regular football team- all of them want to win the match, and they help each other. But they don't all run after the ball. One guy has to be the goal-keeper, some of them have to be defenders. Even the attackers don't always get a shot to score, they usually pass to the striker. While each player would want the glory of scoring, they sacrifice that desire, because they realize that they will definitely lose if all 11 players just run after the ball. They all stick to their roles and take pride in the team's victory, rather than think about how many goals each of them scored.
In the world without God and morals, there are still some smart people who can realize that if they want to survive, it is better to team up with the others. If you are stranded with 10 other people on a deserted island, you can fight with the rest of them till there's only one person left alive. But after this happens, how long will that single person be able to survive?
If the group of stranded people had a few smart ones, they could persuade the others to work together- to help each other to survive, just like in the game of football. Except that it is not about winning, it's about surviving. It's not against another team, but against nature, or may be a tribe that lives on the island that doesn't like outsiders.
You can see this kind of living anywhere you look. Team sports- everyone in the team takes up a role so that the team wins. War- each soldier protects the others, sticks to his orders, and carries his mission out. Lions - they hunt together, defend each other, and protect their territory. Bees- some go looking for nectar, one lays eggs, some look after the infants, and if there is a disturbance, all of them attack the invader. Ants- same as bees.
Working together means that the members of the team must support each other. Over time, they grow to have faith in each other. A lion knows that the other members in the pride will support it when it attacks a bigger animal, like a buffalo. A soldier knows that if he tries to advance to the enemy lines, others will cover him. The striker in a football game knows that the other attackers will pass the ball to him when he is in good position to score.
But the whole team thing comes with a price. Some rules need to be set up, roles need to be assigned. In a football game, the players are assigned roles (based on their skills, unless the captain or the manager is corrupt). Each of them may want to score as many goals as he can, but he does not do that, because then the team breaks down.
The rules in the football game are quite straight-forward. Goal-keeper saves, defenders and attackers pass, striker scores. But with the people stranded on the island, it is not so simple. They need a more elaborate set of rules. First, they need to get food. Some of them may not be as good as the others in hunting. Should these people be left to starve, or should the others share their food with them? Suppose there are 3 women and 8 men, and each of the men wants to have one (or more) of the women to be their partner? How do they decide who gets who and who is left without a partner? Should the men fight to the death? Play a sophisticated version of rock-paper-scissors? Have a hunting contest? Or should the women be allowed to choose? Will the men without a partner respect that decision? Suppose they finally managed to gather enough material to build a canoe to escape the island, but it can only carry 8 out of the 11 people. Which 8 should be allowed to use it?
These and a lot of other difficult situations tend to arise when people team up. Each person has desires that cannot be met with the available resources. They could settle these things with a fight to the death. Or, they can all agree on a set of rules that they will all stick to. Let's call these rules, 'Morals'. People can always decide not to follow the rules, and even if a few of them stop following the rules, the team can easily break down. So, make up another rule- If someone does not follow the Morals, the rest of them beat the crap out of him.
Suppose that this group of 11, stranded on the island, managed to survive and reproduce. A 100 years later, when the original 11 have passed away, there's a larger population that doesn't really appreciate all the rules. What if someone is not happy with the rules? Or if he is too strong or fast for the others to beat him up? If he's secretly breaking the rules? Or, if he's not breaking any of the rules and someone else accuses him of breaking the rules? What if one of them is not scared of the others anymore and decides to do whatever he wants- starting with stealing their food and forcing the women? And just beating him doesn't work.
Here's an idea- Tell them that there is an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do. And the 'Morals' were actually rules that the invisible man had given to the people. And there is a special place called hell, far away from the island and in the depths of the earth, for anyone who breaks the rules. And people who break the rules go to hell and will be tortured for eternity.
The people don't buy it? Make it more appealing. The invisible man is not all evil. If you stick to the rules, he takes you to another place where you can enjoy in any way you want to. And as a side note, tell them that the invisible man talks to you and everything you say is true. They still don't buy it? Make a deal with some of the others- tell them you will help them if they spread the rumor that there really is an invisible man who is all-knowing and all-powerful, and he talks to you. How do you help these guys who spread the rumors? Simple- tell the people that the invisible man told you that your supporters must be allowed to rule the rest of the people- The divine right to rule.
The story of the 11 people on the deserted island, this could very well be the story of the world without God and Morals, with a few smart people. And if you can imagine this world- where smart people realize that it is easier to work as a team, and that teams need rules, and that these rules can be made more appealing to the people if you say that they come from an all-knowing, all-powerful invisible man in the sky who will give them all kinds of pleasures if they stick to the rules, and all kinds of pain if they break the rules; how different will this world be from the world we live in today?
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