06/22/2017
"It appears that God and government are both culturally
and psychologically interchangeable. Experimentally
induced reminders of secular moral authority had as
much effect on generous behavior in an economic game
as reminders of God (Shariff & Norenzayan 2007). The
effect of participation in a world religion on punishing of
selfish behavior disappears when a third-party punisher is
introduced into the game (Henrich et al. 2010a), also suggesting
some psychological interchangeability between supernatural
and secular sources of monitoring and
punishment. Cross-national surveys show that greater
trust in government stability and control undermines religion
(Norris & Inglehart 2004) and reduces distrust of atheists
among believers (Gervais & Norenzayan 2012b;
Norenzayan & Gervais 2015). Moreover, experimental manipulations
or naturally occurring events (e.g., electoral instability)
that lower faith in one of these external control
systems (God or the government) lead to subsequent increases
in faith in the other (Kay et al. 2008). There are
signs that some societies with strong institutions and
stable life conditions have passed a threshold, no longer
leaning on prosocial religious elements to sustain largescale
prosociality. Some of the most cooperative and trusting
societies, such as those in Scandinavia, are also the least
religious (Zuckerman 2008)."
From this Awesome Paper:
https://www.researchgate.net/…/297654369_Self-control_cultu…
I'm starting to think we need to democratically invent a global, artificially intelligent Leviathan to take over the current role of the USA as the next global superpower, to protect and serve:
1) The shared, common interests of all humans:
a: Purpose: giving humans a higher power to serve that serves common humanity and the greater good. Discovering uses or needs for the common good that humans can freely make themselves of service to.
b: Protection: of all humans from each other and external threats.
c: Education for all.
d: Healthcare for all.
e: Eventual Augmentation or Transhumanization of all.
2) The Earth, climate, biosphere, technosphere and eventually, maybe...noosphere
3) The coming mass "useless class" that is under threat from capitalism, automation, and hyper-inequality.
4) The Consilient body of scientific knowledge or truth, and the scientific process.
5) The moral facts that pertain to the greater good, whatever they may be, and the process of discovering what the greater good is (which probably derives from "reward" in the brain).
Because this global Leviathan needs to serve the shared interests of all humans in order to preserve the greater good, ALL humans need to individually and collectively understand that they are responsible for discovering and teaching the Leviathan what the shared interests of all humans are!
THIS will be the justification for a universal basic income of the useless masses under threat from automation: They can serve the Leviathan as their higher power by simply telling it what their interests are so that the Leviathan can serve the common interests of all.
What is the greatest threat against this happening?
The political right in every country is basically against cosmopolitanism. If they have their way, the useless class will experience apoptosis while the rich become competing demigods in a dystopian nightmare of darkness
Official Full-Text Paper (PDF): Self-control, cultural animals, and Big Gods
