aqualights

There is no proof that Göbekli Tepe was built before agriculture appeared.

Man has ruled the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years, and to this very day is still the supreme ruler of the planet. Not only that, but in the past hundred years he has been trying to conquer and subdue neighboring planets. How did man rise on top of all food chains? How was man able to bestow himself as a god among other animals and nature ? How did man advance ? A very short answer to these questions is : Tools. A tool is a physical object that can be utilized for a certain purpose. We use tools in our everyday lives for almost everything from soap to satellites, soap is a tool that helps us kill bacteria and live longer by not contracting diseases, while the latter is a tool that enhances our communication abilities. And since a few thousand years ago there have been tools that are used to make other tools. As far as uncovered fossil evidence, it all started with the ancient oldowan tools that appeared 2.6 million years ago. Later on humans developed their tools to make them more efficient and suitable for their changing environments up to the neolithic period. Bear in mind that several species of homo(humans)coexisted in these periods, and therefore tools slightly differed from one part of the old world to another. An Oldowan stone tool Neolithic axe heads Early humans continued to develop their tools. Their primitive stone tools were refined and then enhanced by the introduction of metal tools. Currently every field of science depends on tools, one way or the other. Biologists can't make their experiments or research without the modern tools that allow them. The same for physicists, chemists, and astronomers. Our heavy dependency on tools is obvious. Man and other primates do not have the physical strength or properties to meet their basic needs, therefore they used and are still using tools. Only man has developed and is still developing his tools which gave him an advantage over other primates that remain largely content with what they have been using as tools perhaps for millions of years. Chimpanzees have been observed making relatively sophisticated tools such as spears, termite catching rods, and using heavy stones as a tool to crack open nuts. Bonobos (a species of Chimpanzee) have been taught to use the same tools humans used about 2 million years ago, and also some modern tools. Kanzi the bonobo making its own primitive human tools to solve a problem Kanzi using modern tools So this begets the question, why didn't apes develop their tools such as their human counterparts? Chimpanzees can make their own tools without human interference, and learn how to use human tools in their ancient and modern types. Perhaps the answer might be in brain capacity and/or theorizing power (however they may be related) and cultural traits differences between human and chimpanzee. In any case, the human genus clearly depends on tools for survival and advancement, and that is probably the main reason why we are what we are today and why we have what we have today. It might seem that we are living in the end of days for humankind or at least the end of technological breakthroughs for the pessimist. For the optimist , we are on the verge of even greater breakthroughs. However,the human developed his tools using his thinking or theorizing power in order to fulfill his needs. The human also understood that to fulfill his needs he will need to make certain tools through trial and error and enhancing them for their effectiveness. Unfortunately our modern tools depend on fossil fuels and scarce material that one day will run out. So what is in store for the future homo-sapiens (humans)? Will the dependency on tools continue ? Will we find less finite materials? Or is there another way to survive without tools?

The article doesn't explain about which god exactly was in question..If the god(s) in question is the Hebrew god that created the earth in 7 days or something similar, then yes you can say that most scientists are atheist. However there are other more interesting view on god such as Spinozism. Personally I do not really care for the topic of god's existence, but I do share scientists in their disbelief of gods such as the Hebrew or Hindu gods.

Do you have proof that most scientists are atheists? I doubt that.. I would say most of them are agnostic, but i don't have any proof either to assert this claim. Science is not a belief to be believed in. It is a combination of theories and facts. So you don't really have to dismiss the existence of god, or the lack of thereof for science.

I do agree that religion is no longer required as I have mentioned in my examples about Christianity and Islam.However in ancient society I believe it was a requirement as to be not cast out as a heretic at the very least, and there are many incidents throughout history to prove it, starting from the pharoahs to the crusades and muslim conquests which I can expound upon. And up to this day, especially in many Muslim societies, refusing the religion could easily get you prosecuted and in some cases even executed. Suppose that you are an atheist in medieval Europe, what are the chances of your neighbors and local priests calling you out as a heretic and taking some kind of action against you ? I think there would be a clear risk of you being persecuted for heresy and perhaps even your imprisonment and torture. Now, doesn't that compromise your physiological and safety needs? In this hypothetical situation, you are forced to ensure the safety of your own skin by adhering to Christianity. It is a forced need. When I said there is no evidence of rituals, I meant earlier than Neanderthals. Not just earlier than agriculture. If you do know about evidence of rituals prior to Neanderthals I would be very much interested to know about it. Thanks for the video ! I will be sure to watch it tonight.

iNow, How religion evolved is another subject to be expounded on in detail, which hopefully will help me in answering the question - Why organized religion came to existence? Maslow's hierarchy can offer only one explanation which I believe to be a part answer to this question, but there are many other psychological and physiological factors that in my opinion have contributed to the appearance of organized religion which also deserve another topic. Organized religion itself does not enter into the hierarchy of needs, people bring it into their own hierarchies. Many people nowadays keep it out of their hierarchy of needs due to it not being a requirement for satisfying those needs. But people in ancient times were not able to do so, and many people to this day are not able to keep organized religion out of their hierarchy of needs, as per my example about tribal regions in afghanistan. It is also important to differntiate between cultural norms, ancient cults (animisim for example) and organized religion. While organized religion is probably a direct evolvement of those ancient cultures and cults, in my opinion there is a trigger that helped organized religioin come into existence. And this trigger is connected not only with mythology and norms inherited from these ancient nomad-like cultures, but also in my opinion to the discovery of agriculture, which in turn satisfied the physiological and to some degree the safety needs as opposed to a hunter-gatherer society. There are for sure other factors that contributed to the appearance of organized religion but agriculture and using it to satisfy the 2 basic needs is one of the biggest in my opinion. I am currently researching other factors, especially the evolution of the brain. Questions like where do we come from? Where do we go when we die? are likely connected to the evolution of the brain. I think that these questions appeared with the Neanderthal's interaction with Modern man, as they once coexisted. There is also no evidence of any kind of rituals amongst earlier species in the genus homo. Again, another topic worth consideration. As far as religion hijacking existing neurocortical mechanisms, it could be possible, and if so it means organized religion itself has evolved such as those mechanisms to be able to exlploit them. However I doubt that it is a reason of why organized religion came into existence in first place.

Prehistoric species of man had no idea of god or religion as it is today. Evidence shows that the very first religious signs were intentional burials of Neanderthals with their goods in the Middle Paleolithic period up to 300,000 years ago. The history of religion is as amazing as it is full of violence. It evolved from simple burials, to rituals, cults, and finally into organized religion as we have today. If Maslow’s hierarchy is to be considered, there should be no need or reason to have religion (in any of its forms) without fulfilling the physiological and safety needs of early human species. This can explain the late appearance of organized religion begging with the ancient Egyptian religion or even older organized religions and ending with relatively new ones such as Islam. The appearance of organized religion is very late considering that human species have been roaming the earth for over 2 million years ago, while organized religion appeared only several thousand years ago. For millions of years, humans lived in small bands hunting, scavenging and perhaps even collecting plants for their diet. Early tools developed by humans show that they mostly depended on scavenging dead corpses killed by other predators, only later on they had suitable tools or weapons to be able to hunt prey effectively. Fulfillment of the physiological needs was always a problem for early human species, which might also explain why all of them are now extinct except homo-sapiens. It is hard to imagine that early humans had an abundance of food and water. Had they had enough food and water, they would have most likely remained in Africa and they would not have been extinct by now. In addition to the physiological problem, there was a safety problem. Early humans and their cousin species were not all in peace. There certainly were skirmishes between the different species of humans over territory and food sources. Other than that, predators that are extinct now were also a threat to early humans who had mostly primitive scavenging tools. All this had them constantly fearing for their safety and perhaps on the move. So we can agree that one of the main reasons of the late appearance of organized religion is the non-satisfaction of these 2 basic needs according to Maslow. These needs were gradually satisfied throughout thousands of years as humans turned from a hunter-gatherer nomad-like society into a more sedentary society that could generally cover its physiological and safety needs with the appearance of agriculture and farming. Where exactly does organized religion as a need belong on Maslow’s hierarchy? If we are to generalize and put all organized religions (especially modern religions) in one basket, they will probably belong in all 3 of the remaining needs in various degrees – Belonging/love, Esteem and Self-actualization. The exact answer depends not only on the need of a particular kind of religion, but also on the current state of this particular religion as a whole which is influenced by the geo-political and economic environment. Most religions though share the 3rd level of needs – Belonging. However, many religions after their appearance, took a more aggressive approach that had them digging down back to the 2nd level of Safety. It should also be noted that many religious systems offer both peaceful and violent teachings at the same time, the deciding factor whether the religion is violent or peaceful largely depends on how society decides to use the religious system and its interpretation. Take Christianity for example. In the middle ages the religion was very violent compared to nowadays. People were persecuted, burned alive, and wars were fought in the name of the religion. An average person in medieval Europe would need to be a Christian if he is to ensure his own safety and perhaps even his physiological needs are met first and foremost. Once those 2 basic needs were satisfied, the person had to involve Christianity into the Belonging level of needs in order to at least have a functioning family, friendships, or other relationships within the society of medieval Europe. Nowadays Christianity is much more a pacifist religion than the middle-ages. There is no longer a need to be Christian in Europe to satisfy your physiological and / or safety needs. Christianity has moved to a higher level in the hierarchy. Now it ranges between Belonging to Self-actualization depending on many other factors that affects the individual that range from psychological state to the socio-economic status in society. Another example is Islam. Islam as whole has not refused its violent doctrine as Christianity did. This might be one of the main reasons why Islam’s position in the hierarchy includes almost all the stages. Nowadays the position of Islam as a need for the individual depends on which culture and country he or she belongs to. An extreme example would be a person living the tribal region controlled by the Taliban. This person has to first of all be a Muslim, but in the case of the Taliban this is most likely not enough. The person has to adhere to the violent side of Islam. This is at least to satisfy his basic needs of safety, food and water. Other Muslims in developed countries can freely choose to adhere to Islam or not and therefore the need for Islam for them is higher on the hierarchy. Unlike Christianity, Islam is not centralized. There is no real center of power such as the Catholic or Orthodox Church; therefore Islam seems to be moving in many different directions at the same time with no clear leadership or vision. While some preach Islam as a religion of peace, suicide bombs and killings are happening in the name of it. This is again due to lack of clear vision and patriarchy that can direct the progressive path of the religion. It should also be noted that the appearance of religion as a whole cannot be only associated with psychological factors, but also physiological. Brain power has a great role not only in technological advancement but also in the evolution of religion. Without the evolution of brain power starting from Homo erectus up to the modern Homo sapiens, there is little doubt that religion would exist. The leap forward in religion might have started with the agriculture, but its appearance and development up to the leap forward could be attributed to the development of brain power amongst human species and the appearance of modern man.