Neuropedia

• PARTICIPANTS: Lisa Barrett, Barbara J. King, Zoran Josipovic, Steven Pinker • MODERATOR: Brian Greene TOPICS: • 0:00 - Introduction • 01:05 - Overview of religious beliefs • 12:15 - Panelist intros • 14:27 - Panelists share personal religious beliefs • 18:28 - Broadening our views of belief • 19:15 - Do other animals have a sense of spirituality? • 20:50 - What is evolutionary psychology? • 27:51 - Are humans wired for belief? • 32:36 - Is there evidence of an internal predilection of religious belief? • 37:46 - Searching for the origin of religious belief • 45:21 - Is there an adaptive value of religious belief? • 49:31 - Advantages of religious belief relating to the nervous system • 55:24 - Why has religion persisted for so long? • 1:00:30 - Religion as an emotional response vs a social mechanism • 1:08:20 - The future of the role of religion • 1:14:15 - What would aliens think of our religious beliefs?

▪️The Believing Brain - Evolution, Neuroscience, and the Spiritual Instinct June 2, 2018 God, they say, is in the details. But could God also be in our frontal lobes? Every culture from the dawn of humankind has imagined planes of existence beyond the reach of our senses, spiritual domains that shape our Earthly experiences. Why do beliefs of the fantastic hold such powerful sway over our species? Is there something in our evolutionary history that points to an answer? Does neuroscience hold the key? Straddling the gap between science and religion, Brian Greene is joined by renowned neuroscientists, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists, to explore one of the most profound mysteries of our existence.

▪️How Belief Systems Work - Closer To Truth We like to think that we are rational, that what we believe is what is true. But we often believe because of our "belief systems"-"how we believe" may be more important than "what we believe." Featuring interviews with Julian Baggini, Stephen Law, Patrick McNamara, Gregory Ganssle, Rebecca Goldstein, and John Leslie.

▪️What Causes Religious Belief - Closer To Truth What causes religious belief? Why are religions so pervasive, across diverse human cultures? If God exists, would God have made it so? But there are entirely natural reasons to expect the widespread belief in God. Featuring interviews with Colin Blakemore, Thalia Wheatley, Justin Barrett, Bruce Hood, Elizabeth Loftus, Warren Brown, Jared Diamond, J.L. Schellenberg, and Stuart Kauffman.

▪️Did We Evolve To Believe In God

▪️Religion Is Nature's Antidepressant - Robert Sapolsky