> dkomo wrote:

>> whitesickle@msn.com wrote:
>>

>>> dkomo wrote:
>>>

>>>>It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
>>>>in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
>>>>*side-effect* of the way our minds work.
>>>>
>>>>But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution? Richard Dawkins in his
>>>>new book _The God Delusion_ offers a good example of such a side-effect:
>>>>the tendency of moths to fly in crazy patterns near a bright light
>>>>source at night, such as candle flames, campfires and electric lights.
>>>>The moth will often fly into the flame and immolate itself.
>>>>
>>>>I had a instance of this earlier this year. I was sitting at the
>>>>computer at night in my office last spring when a moth happened to fly
>>>>in and began immediately to repeatedly bounce off the ceiling and
>>>>overhead light fixture. This is extremely annoying when you're trying ...

> It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
> in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
> *side-effect* of the way our minds work.

> But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution? Richard Dawkins in his
> new book _The God Delusion_ offers a good example of such a side-effect:
> the tendency of moths to fly in crazy patterns near a bright light
> source at night, such as candle flames, campfires and electric lights.
> The moth will often fly into the flame and immolate itself.

> So what causes this idiotic moth behavior?

> It isn't an evolutionary
> adaptation as it obviously doesn't improve the moth's fitness. Dawkins
> explains it in the section "Religion as a By-Product of Something Else"
> in Chapter 5 "The Roots...

> It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
> in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
> *side-effect* of the way our minds work.
>
> But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution? Richard Dawkins in his
> new book _The God Delusion_ offers a good example of such a side-effect:
> the tendency of moths to fly in crazy patterns near a bright light
> source at night, such as candle flames, campfires and electric lights.
> The moth will often fly into the flame and immolate itself.
>
> I had a instance of this earlier this year. I was sitting at the
> computer at night in my office last spring when a moth happened to fly
> in and began immediately to repeatedly bounce off the ceiling and
> overhead light fixture. This is extremely annoying when you're trying
> to get some work done, so I started looking around for The Terminator,
> my rolled up newspaper which I use to dispatch moths. But before I
> could reach for it, I saw the moth fly straight into the very hot light
> bulb overhead during one of its swoops and was killed instantly. I
> could see it lying upside down inside the translucent light fixture. ...

> It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
> in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
> *side-effect* of the way our minds work.
>
> But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution? Richard Dawkins in his
> new book _The God Delusion_ offers a good example of such a side-effect:
> the tendency of moths to fly in crazy patterns near a bright light
> source at night, such as candle flames, campfires and electric lights.
> The moth will often fly into the flame and immolate itself.
>
> I had a instance of this earlier this year. I was sitting at the
> computer at night in my office last spring when a moth happened to fly
> in and began immediately to repeatedly bounce off the ceiling and
> overhead light fixture. This is extremely annoying when you're trying
> to get some work done, so I started looking around for The Terminator,
> my rolled up newspaper which I use to dispatch moths. But before I
> could reach for it, I saw the moth fly straight into the very hot light
> bulb overhead during one of its swoops and was killed instantly. I ...

> dkomo wrote:
>

>>It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
>>in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
>>*side-effect* of the way our minds work.

>...

> "dkomo" comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:einvm3$2m3f$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
>

>>It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
>>in the religions of the world...

> whitesickle@msn.com wrote:

> By the way, using the term "unintended consequence" is just casual
> language and is not intended to imply that evolution can have
> intentions, lol. I say this to ward off any wagging fingers that may be
> attracted this way, to admonish or to instruct the ignorant.

> whitesickle@msn.com wrote:
>

>> dkomo wrote:
>>

>>>It's often said that belief in supernatural agents such as those found
>>>in the religions of the world is not a direct adaptation but a
>>>*side-effect* of the way our minds work.
>>>
>>>But what exactly is a side-effect of evolution? Richard Dawkins in his
>>>new book _The God Delusion_ offers a good example of such a side-effect:
>>>the tendency of moths to fly in crazy patterns near a bright light
>>>source at night, such as candle flames, campfires and electric lights.
>>>The moth will often fly into the flame and immolate itself.
>>>
>>>I had a instance of this earlier this year. I was sitting at the
>>>computer at night in my office last spring when a moth happened to fly
>>>in and began immediately to repeatedly bounce off the ceiling and
>>>overhead light fixture. This is extremely annoying when you're trying
>>>to get some work done, so I started looking around for The Terminator, ...