The other day I answered this question on Quora about the difference between faith and knowledge. I argued that evolution has provided humans two different thinking capacities: faith and reason. Faith allows us to absorb and transmit culture (the evolution of which helps humanity solve stable but complex problems beyond the scope of our reasoning capacity) and Reason allows us to solve relatively simple problems that change each time we see them. In other words, the difference between faith and reason is biological. We evolved these two capacities just like we evolved both sight and hearing.
I also talked about how the emergence of technology has really thrown the evolution of culture out of whack. Culture solves complex, stable problems. But now technology can solve complex problems, too. And the world is not stable. Technology keeps changing the rules of the game, and culture can’t keep up.
So does faith make sense in this kind of world? I think the answer is yes, but I don’t say that lightly. As I have discussed before, about ten years ago I basically decided that I was not going to be a person of faith because I thought it represented nothing more than wishful thinking.
Have you ever heard of a cargo cult? The story goesthat some Polynesian islanders were exposed to modern technology (i.e., the cargo) and then tried to please the gods by mimicking the forms of this technology.
Obviously, this kind of thing doesn’t really fly. But the people of these islands had traditions where status was derived from the value of the goods they could produce. People who couldn’t produce much were seen as “rubbish men”. So in the presence of advanced technology, everyone felt like “rubbish men.”
A lot of people get to a point in life where they feel like the culture they grew up in is rubbish. So they try to mimic the thing they see as superior. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Mimicry is a part of the faith/culture process. We perform rituals and go through forms that we don’t really understand. That is an essential part of how nature solves problems through culture. Our ability to adapt and mimic new cultural norms is essential to our humanity (even, shall we say, the Secret of Our Success).
In a world of technology, we all go through this crisis where we realize our parents’ way of life is shabby, so we try to adopt something different without really understanding it. This ‘crisis of faith’ is really just a natural part of the natural faith adaptation module nature has gifted us with.
Ok, so faith is natural. But is it still useful, or is it some kind of vestigial psychology that doesn’t make sense in a world of technology?
I can’t answer this question definitively, but I can make a few points. First, even if aspects of our psychology aren’t useful, we can’t just ignore them. For example, the modern world may tend to over-stimulate our natural anxiety triggers. But we can’t just say “Don’t need that anymore, I’m just going to turn off my anxiety.” Well, maybe I take that back…it seems like certain drugs do just that. But not without consequences. Our psychology is complex and every emotion is interrelated.
Second, our reasoning capacity is still limited and there are certain areas of life where technology just isn’t serving us very well. Technology tends to be very good at solving certain very specific problems, say, like how to put a man on the moon. But life is a web of complexity and culture remains the only thing that gives us any hope of providing a framework for living in such a complex world (simply because we don’t have the mental ability to approach every problem rationally-there is just too much going on underneath the surface).
For example, technology isn’t going to tell us how to balance the need for honesty, loyalty, and self-preservation. It isn’t going to tell us who we should marry, or when it is proper to get a divorce. Soon, maybe AI will try, but in the meantime we have to use our built in neural network that operates with parameters that are largely determined by our culture.
If we do not have faith, we live in a world where we are overwhelmed by the futility of trying to account for everything consciously. Even if culture is not perfect, we have to rely on it because we have no other choice. Culture (and faith) provide us a way of dealing with that complexity without being overcome by nervous worrying about how it is all going to work out.
So here is kind of a recap of where I am at with faith:
- faith is a biological adaptation that is essential to the transmission (and evolution) of culture
- our rational capacity is insufficient to deal with the vast complexities of everyday life and because of how we evolved, we will be nervous and unhappy if we are not able to satisfy our need for faith
- in a modern world, changes in technology drive changes in culture, and the changes happen so fast it appears as if the previous generation (what we grew up with) is always insufficient (i.e., rubbish)
- there are some essential aspects of culture that remain viable, and necessary to live a complete life, and we need to access this Truth passed down from our parents in order to be at peace
