Suppose that you are an entrepreneur and you want to start an online retailing company. You understand at the start that you will need to set up systems to handle order processing and fulfillment, customer support, inventory management, returned merchandise, accounting, etc., etc. But what if you had started other ventures in the past and already had infrastructure set up to handle those things?
For example, what about inventory management and order processing? Irrespective of the product that you sell, you will need warehouse space to store inventory (assuming that you aren't doing a drop-ship only operation), you will need systems for tracking inventory, space for filling orders and storing shipping supplies, and not least of all, you will need to have personnel who are trained to take orders, retrieve the merchandise from the warehouse, package it, and ship it to where it needs to go in an efficient and timely manner.
Suppose that, as a serial entrepreneur, you already owned a warehouse and that you had already set up systems to handle shipments and train personnel. Suddenly, starting a new retailing company isn't as big a task because much of the work is done already. Your warehousing infrastructure is a like a pipeline into which you can push new business ideas more or less at will. In fact, if your operation were efficient and automated enough, you could go into business handling inventory and order fulfillment for other companies! (Incidentally, there are lots of companies that do this if you are willing to pay for it).
The same thinking applies for other aspects of the business, from customer support to marketing to human resources.
Thinking about business in this way makes it much more interesting than it might be otherwise. An entrepreneur isn't "selling stuff." Rather, an entrepreneur is building machines and pipelines to automate the money-making process. I want to start an online retailing company simply so that I can build warehousing and customer support pipelines (making money in the process is, of course, a big plus).
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Suppose that you want to start your own business. You have a killer idea for a new product, you already have a prototype, and you think it will sell really well. You just need to build it and start selling it, right?
Wrong. Unfortunately, there is much more to it than that. When I started my own company I figured that I would be doing what I loved to do - that is, design and sell inertial and orientation sensors. I quickly learned, however, that designing the sensor itself is just a small part of the process. Running a business is a full-time job and if you want to be successful, you have to have a good plan beyond "I'm just going to make these and sell them!"
As a start, I've listed a few things below that you have to think carefully about.
Manufacturing
How are you going to make your product?
If your answer to this question is "Well, I'll just make them myself," then you are already off on the wrong foot. If your business experiences any appreciable growth, you will quickly be overwhelmed - and not just because you can't make your widgets fast enough. You will inevitably discover that running your business would be a full-time job even if you didn't have to make everything yourself.
If you are bootstrapping a new company (ie. starting with very little capital) doing manufacturing yourself might seem like a great option because it is cheaper and easier than setting up systems to do it elsewhere. With a little work, though, you can find ways around it. If you do end up doing your own manufacturing, then make sure you have a solid plan to stop doing it as soon as possible. Your business will grow, and you need a plan to make it happen. Don't be reactive or you'll hate life.
Marketing and Sales
How will you market your product? How will you accept orders? Who will handle order fulfillment?
Order fulfillment can be a headache. Suppose you have a system set up to take orders online. You make it live and, magically, the orders start streaming in. What now? Do you intend to print sales receipts and shipping labels, package, and ship each individual order yourself? You might get away with it for a while, but if you have any appreciable sales volume, you will find yourself swamped trying to stay caught up. You will run out of time, guaranteed.
It is easy to dismiss this problem by saying, "well, if order volume gets too high, then I'll just hire someone to do shipping." That's a good idea, but it's something that needs to be planned carefully and in detail. Where will your employees work? How much will it really cost to hire them (after taxes, unemployment insurance, accounting, etc.)? How will you train them so that you don't have to always be around to make sure that they do a good job? What kinds of systems will you need to have set up to make sure that employees don't make mistakes when handling orders? You need to answer these questions in careful detail before starting your company.
Customer Support
No matter how good and well documented your product is, your customers will always have questions. There will always be returns for defective products. There will always be lost shipments, incorrect addresses, damaged packages. How are you going to deal with these problems?
Again, the tendency is to think "I'll do it myself until I hire someone." But the same problems apply. You need a plan. At what sales volume do you expect to have to hire someone to stay caught up? Can you afford to hire an employee at that point? What about training? ... etc. etc.
Sales Taxes, Licensing, Accounting, Export Regulations, Legal Problems...
These are the uncomfortable, nitty-gritty necessaries inside any business. Expect to spend long hours keeping the books straight, making sure you plan for taxes, looking up shipping regulations, and generally lubing the cogs on your little startup to keep it running.
Can you see how you can become quickly overwhelmed if you don't plan carefully? You can't handle manufacturing, customer support, marketing and sales, order fulfillment, and everything else on your own. Even if you are "partners" with one or more other people, things can quickly spin out of control if you don't plan ahead (who is responsible for what? where does the "buck" ultimately stop?)
Incidentally, the same principles apply regardless of the type of business you are starting. An online retailer may not have to worry about manufacturing directly, but there will be issues with your supply chain, your relationships with manufacturers, etc. A software company will still have support and potentially shipping problems. A service-oriented business will have significant personnel management overhead. There isn't really an easy way out...
Wrong. Unfortunately, there is much more to it than that. When I started my own company I figured that I would be doing what I loved to do - that is, design and sell inertial and orientation sensors. I quickly learned, however, that designing the sensor itself is just a small part of the process. Running a business is a full-time job and if you want to be successful, you have to have a good plan beyond "I'm just going to make these and sell them!"
As a start, I've listed a few things below that you have to think carefully about.
Manufacturing
How are you going to make your product?
If your answer to this question is "Well, I'll just make them myself," then you are already off on the wrong foot. If your business experiences any appreciable growth, you will quickly be overwhelmed - and not just because you can't make your widgets fast enough. You will inevitably discover that running your business would be a full-time job even if you didn't have to make everything yourself.
If you are bootstrapping a new company (ie. starting with very little capital) doing manufacturing yourself might seem like a great option because it is cheaper and easier than setting up systems to do it elsewhere. With a little work, though, you can find ways around it. If you do end up doing your own manufacturing, then make sure you have a solid plan to stop doing it as soon as possible. Your business will grow, and you need a plan to make it happen. Don't be reactive or you'll hate life.
Marketing and Sales
How will you market your product? How will you accept orders? Who will handle order fulfillment?
Order fulfillment can be a headache. Suppose you have a system set up to take orders online. You make it live and, magically, the orders start streaming in. What now? Do you intend to print sales receipts and shipping labels, package, and ship each individual order yourself? You might get away with it for a while, but if you have any appreciable sales volume, you will find yourself swamped trying to stay caught up. You will run out of time, guaranteed.
It is easy to dismiss this problem by saying, "well, if order volume gets too high, then I'll just hire someone to do shipping." That's a good idea, but it's something that needs to be planned carefully and in detail. Where will your employees work? How much will it really cost to hire them (after taxes, unemployment insurance, accounting, etc.)? How will you train them so that you don't have to always be around to make sure that they do a good job? What kinds of systems will you need to have set up to make sure that employees don't make mistakes when handling orders? You need to answer these questions in careful detail before starting your company.
Customer Support
No matter how good and well documented your product is, your customers will always have questions. There will always be returns for defective products. There will always be lost shipments, incorrect addresses, damaged packages. How are you going to deal with these problems?
Again, the tendency is to think "I'll do it myself until I hire someone." But the same problems apply. You need a plan. At what sales volume do you expect to have to hire someone to stay caught up? Can you afford to hire an employee at that point? What about training? ... etc. etc.
Sales Taxes, Licensing, Accounting, Export Regulations, Legal Problems...
These are the uncomfortable, nitty-gritty necessaries inside any business. Expect to spend long hours keeping the books straight, making sure you plan for taxes, looking up shipping regulations, and generally lubing the cogs on your little startup to keep it running.
Can you see how you can become quickly overwhelmed if you don't plan carefully? You can't handle manufacturing, customer support, marketing and sales, order fulfillment, and everything else on your own. Even if you are "partners" with one or more other people, things can quickly spin out of control if you don't plan ahead (who is responsible for what? where does the "buck" ultimately stop?)
Incidentally, the same principles apply regardless of the type of business you are starting. An online retailer may not have to worry about manufacturing directly, but there will be issues with your supply chain, your relationships with manufacturers, etc. A software company will still have support and potentially shipping problems. A service-oriented business will have significant personnel management overhead. There isn't really an easy way out...
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Choosing Religious Assumptions
In my last post, I talked a little about assumptions that we have to make to arrive at religious beliefs based on spiritual feelings (I recommend that you read it before reading this one). In this post, I will talk a little more about that.
As an example of how we make assumptions to arrive at religious belief, consider Mormonism. In Mormonism, it is believed that God is the source of all truth, and that truth is communicated through the Holy Ghost. By studying and praying, an individual can learn the truth about why we are here, what roles our families play, what happens after this life, who Jesus Christ was, what He did for us, etc.
The critical assumptions in this case are that:
Now, is there anything special about the five assumptions that I listed? Is there any specific, logical reason to accept these assumptions instead of another set? For example, suppose that instead I start with a slightly modified set of assumptions:
Does this mean that we shouldn't believe in God? Not really. After all, refusing to believe in God simply creates a different set of assumptions - a set in which God does not exist. I think that the lesson to take from this is that we should be aware that the methods we use to arrive at religious belief aren't exactly well-founded. We should allow for the possibility that we could be wrong, that there might be other systems of belief that are at least as valid as our own. We should be unwilling to do things in the name of God or religion that conscience would generally decry as immoral.
There are also implications in terms of how we view people who have "fallen away" from faith. All other things being equal (ie. no substantial loss of healthy moral standards), how can anyone say that an individual is worse-off because she decided to build a world-view using a different set of arbitrary assumptions?
As an example of how we make assumptions to arrive at religious belief, consider Mormonism. In Mormonism, it is believed that God is the source of all truth, and that truth is communicated through the Holy Ghost. By studying and praying, an individual can learn the truth about why we are here, what roles our families play, what happens after this life, who Jesus Christ was, what He did for us, etc.
The critical assumptions in this case are that:
- God exists
- God is interested in us
- God is capable of teaching us
- God teaches us through the Holy Ghost
- The Holy Ghost communicates by giving us feelings of peace and comfort
Now, is there anything special about the five assumptions that I listed? Is there any specific, logical reason to accept these assumptions instead of another set? For example, suppose that instead I start with a slightly modified set of assumptions:
- God exists
- God is interested in us
- God is unwilling or unable to communicate with us directly
- God designed us so that we feel good when we pursue constructive beliefs, even if they are false
Does this mean that we shouldn't believe in God? Not really. After all, refusing to believe in God simply creates a different set of assumptions - a set in which God does not exist. I think that the lesson to take from this is that we should be aware that the methods we use to arrive at religious belief aren't exactly well-founded. We should allow for the possibility that we could be wrong, that there might be other systems of belief that are at least as valid as our own. We should be unwilling to do things in the name of God or religion that conscience would generally decry as immoral.
There are also implications in terms of how we view people who have "fallen away" from faith. All other things being equal (ie. no substantial loss of healthy moral standards), how can anyone say that an individual is worse-off because she decided to build a world-view using a different set of arbitrary assumptions?
Spiritualism
For lack of a better term, I'm using the term "spiritualism" to describe a certain way of looking at the world. I'm guessing that someone else has already developed more or less the same worldview that I will describe in this post, and that it is probably already called by another name. Maybe there is a whole philosophy built around it, I don't know. If you happen to know, tell me so I can read about it.
The fundamental idea behind spiritualism is that it recognizes both the existence and the value of transcendental experiences, but it refuses to attach doctrinal significance to those experiences. Rather, it takes a strictly existential view of them. Spiritualism only concerns itself with the existential interpretation of the transcendental. Ugh, what a mouthful.
What I mean should become clear if I explain in a little more detail. A "transcendental experience" is often called a "spiritual" or a "mystical" experience - it is something that falls outside the norm of everyday experience. In Christian circles, a common transcendental experience might be described as a "burning," as the influence of the Holy Ghost, or even as pure enlightenment and understanding from God.
There is absolutely no question that these kinds of experiences exist: they have been reported by so many people in so many different contexts that there is little room for doubt. Recent neurological research also shows that these experiences are actually measurable - we can see things happening inside the brain while people have transcendental experiences (see my last couple blog posts for some references).
The question is not whether the experiences exist. Rather, the question is what we can learn from them. Generally speaking, a religion might take those feelings and attach doctrinal significance to them - ie. because I feel a certain way when I contemplate God, He must exist. Because I feel overpowering emotions when I read the Koran, it must be teaching absolute truth. Because I feel spiritual enlightenment when I hear someone speak, that person must be a divine messenger of sorts.
These kinds of conclusions involve a huge leap of faith and a lot of implicit assumptions - assumptions about how reliable the emotions are, about where they come from, and finally about what they mean. Each belief system will make different assumptions and arrive at different conclusions based on them. The simple fact is that on any rational basis, these requisite assumptions are completely unjustified. They are, in a very real sense, arbitrary.
There isn't anything necessarily wrong with forming beliefs based on incomplete information and assumptions. It is part of the human condition and we have to do it all the time. I believe that, in general, active religious belief provides meaning, happiness, and purpose to life. The effect on society and on individuals is positive. But some people have a problem with forming life-altering beliefs about the universe using fallacious reasoning and emotions that are clearly suspect. It is a matter of principle and honesty to some people.
That is where Spiritualism comes in. There are many benefits to pursuing religion, but Spiritualism holds that those religious benefits can be obtained outside the context of traditional religion. The life-changing transcendental experiences usually obtained through religious worship can be found in meditative and spiritual practices that are perfectly disassociated with religious doctrine. In a sense, Spiritualism is religion distilled to remove the fallacious assumptions that so many find disagreeable.
That is what I mean when I say that Spiritualism concerns itself only with the existential analysis of transcendental experiences. Spiritualism actively pursues the transcendental because of the inherent existential benefits of the pursuit. But it refuses to move beyond reason.
The fundamental idea behind spiritualism is that it recognizes both the existence and the value of transcendental experiences, but it refuses to attach doctrinal significance to those experiences. Rather, it takes a strictly existential view of them. Spiritualism only concerns itself with the existential interpretation of the transcendental. Ugh, what a mouthful.
What I mean should become clear if I explain in a little more detail. A "transcendental experience" is often called a "spiritual" or a "mystical" experience - it is something that falls outside the norm of everyday experience. In Christian circles, a common transcendental experience might be described as a "burning," as the influence of the Holy Ghost, or even as pure enlightenment and understanding from God.
There is absolutely no question that these kinds of experiences exist: they have been reported by so many people in so many different contexts that there is little room for doubt. Recent neurological research also shows that these experiences are actually measurable - we can see things happening inside the brain while people have transcendental experiences (see my last couple blog posts for some references).
The question is not whether the experiences exist. Rather, the question is what we can learn from them. Generally speaking, a religion might take those feelings and attach doctrinal significance to them - ie. because I feel a certain way when I contemplate God, He must exist. Because I feel overpowering emotions when I read the Koran, it must be teaching absolute truth. Because I feel spiritual enlightenment when I hear someone speak, that person must be a divine messenger of sorts.
These kinds of conclusions involve a huge leap of faith and a lot of implicit assumptions - assumptions about how reliable the emotions are, about where they come from, and finally about what they mean. Each belief system will make different assumptions and arrive at different conclusions based on them. The simple fact is that on any rational basis, these requisite assumptions are completely unjustified. They are, in a very real sense, arbitrary.
There isn't anything necessarily wrong with forming beliefs based on incomplete information and assumptions. It is part of the human condition and we have to do it all the time. I believe that, in general, active religious belief provides meaning, happiness, and purpose to life. The effect on society and on individuals is positive. But some people have a problem with forming life-altering beliefs about the universe using fallacious reasoning and emotions that are clearly suspect. It is a matter of principle and honesty to some people.
That is where Spiritualism comes in. There are many benefits to pursuing religion, but Spiritualism holds that those religious benefits can be obtained outside the context of traditional religion. The life-changing transcendental experiences usually obtained through religious worship can be found in meditative and spiritual practices that are perfectly disassociated with religious doctrine. In a sense, Spiritualism is religion distilled to remove the fallacious assumptions that so many find disagreeable.
That is what I mean when I say that Spiritualism concerns itself only with the existential analysis of transcendental experiences. Spiritualism actively pursues the transcendental because of the inherent existential benefits of the pursuit. But it refuses to move beyond reason.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Neurological Effects of Religion
While writing this post, I found myself having to list detailed definitions along with caveats and careful explanations: the concepts of religion and spirituality are complex and often ill-defined, so if you aren't careful, someone will raise their hand and say "well, what about this obscure point that you didn't address?!" So over time the post evolved from a concise, clear description of interesting neurological facts to a meandering monstrosity. The need to keep the post short, clear, and interesting is at odds with the need to be procedurally complete.
I decided to err on the side of concise clarity. If something rubs you the wrong way, we can hash it out in the comments later.
So lets jump right in. In this post I will describe the neurological effects of religious worship. Note that I am no expert. Everything about specific neurological activity comes from the books How God Changes Your Brain by Newburg and Waldman, and Why God Won't Go Away by Newburg et. al. Everything else is mine.
The neurological effects of worship can be summarized in one sentence: we become like what we worship1, regardless of whether what we are worshiping is real or imagined. For example, if we worship an angry, authoritarian, punitive God, we gain a proclivity for anger and we become less capable of being understanding and compassionate. The amygdala - the part of the brain that produces fear and anger - is strengthened. Interestingly, when we are angry it becomes physically impossible for us to think rationally. On this topic, Newburg and Waldman wrote
In contrast, worshiping a compassionate, loving God actively strengthens the frontal lobe and the anterior cingulate. The frontal lobe is the reasoning center of the brain, and the anterior cingulate is the area of the brain that allows us to suppress fear and feel empathy and compassion. Worshiping a loving God actually rewires our neural circuits so that we don't respond with anger as quickly or easily. It also makes us more physically capable of feeling empathy, compassion, and love for others.
To be clear, the "God" that you worship isn't necessarily the same God described by your religion. Practically speaking, your God may be more accurately defined by what you allow yourself to focus on. For example, if you tend to focus on the "wicked" state of the world and the impending judgment of God, then you probably worship an angry God.
More generally, your God may be described by the attitude that you generally espouse when you aren't thinking about God at all. If you are consistently pessimistic, angry, or fearful, it has the same neurological effect as worshiping an angry, authoritarian God. In contrast, if you actively work on being understanding, compassionate, and optimistic, it has the same neurological effect as contemplating a loving, compassionate God.
The idea that worship and regular daily activity are closely related forms much of the basis for what I called "Spiritual Atheism" in the title of my last post. The idea suggests that at least some of the neurological benefits of religion can be obtained by consciously adjusting your attitude about life. That is, perhaps you can get the benefits of religion without using the religion at all.
There are other benefits of religious practice that I haven't talked about - reduced fear of death, deep peace and comfort, powerfully tangible joy, and direction and meaning, not to mention the social benefits of interacting in a religious community. In my next post, I will discuss why these other benefits can also be obtained outside the context of traditional religion.
1. When I say "worship," I am referring to specific, conscious activity centered around a God figure. This activity could be religious ritual, deep contemplation, study of religious texts, or meditation. In this post, I will make the case that worship and daily activity are not necessarily disjoint. They are, I think, closely connected. But when I use the "worship" by itself, I refer specifically to God-centered activities.
I decided to err on the side of concise clarity. If something rubs you the wrong way, we can hash it out in the comments later.
So lets jump right in. In this post I will describe the neurological effects of religious worship. Note that I am no expert. Everything about specific neurological activity comes from the books How God Changes Your Brain by Newburg and Waldman, and Why God Won't Go Away by Newburg et. al. Everything else is mine.
The neurological effects of worship can be summarized in one sentence: we become like what we worship1, regardless of whether what we are worshiping is real or imagined. For example, if we worship an angry, authoritarian, punitive God, we gain a proclivity for anger and we become less capable of being understanding and compassionate. The amygdala - the part of the brain that produces fear and anger - is strengthened. Interestingly, when we are angry it becomes physically impossible for us to think rationally. On this topic, Newburg and Waldman wrote
"Anger interrupts the functioning of your frontal lobes. Not only do you lose the ability to be rational, you lose the awareness that you’re acting in an irrational way. When your frontal lobes shut down, it’s impossible to listen to the other person, let alone feel empathy or compassion. Instead, you are likely to feel self- justified and self- righteous, and when that happens the communication process falls apart. Anger also releases a cascade of neurochemicals that actually destroy those parts of the brain that control emotional reactivity."It goes without saying that we should avoid worshiping "angry" Gods - the effects are clearly destructive. In fact, I don't think that many people would admit to following this kind of God. Rather, I think that people worship the authoritarian, punitive type of God without realizing what they are doing. I'll talk more about this later, because worshiping the wrong kind of God - knowingly or unknowingly - is unhealthy and destructive.
In contrast, worshiping a compassionate, loving God actively strengthens the frontal lobe and the anterior cingulate. The frontal lobe is the reasoning center of the brain, and the anterior cingulate is the area of the brain that allows us to suppress fear and feel empathy and compassion. Worshiping a loving God actually rewires our neural circuits so that we don't respond with anger as quickly or easily. It also makes us more physically capable of feeling empathy, compassion, and love for others.
To be clear, the "God" that you worship isn't necessarily the same God described by your religion. Practically speaking, your God may be more accurately defined by what you allow yourself to focus on. For example, if you tend to focus on the "wicked" state of the world and the impending judgment of God, then you probably worship an angry God.
More generally, your God may be described by the attitude that you generally espouse when you aren't thinking about God at all. If you are consistently pessimistic, angry, or fearful, it has the same neurological effect as worshiping an angry, authoritarian God. In contrast, if you actively work on being understanding, compassionate, and optimistic, it has the same neurological effect as contemplating a loving, compassionate God.
The idea that worship and regular daily activity are closely related forms much of the basis for what I called "Spiritual Atheism" in the title of my last post. The idea suggests that at least some of the neurological benefits of religion can be obtained by consciously adjusting your attitude about life. That is, perhaps you can get the benefits of religion without using the religion at all.
There are other benefits of religious practice that I haven't talked about - reduced fear of death, deep peace and comfort, powerfully tangible joy, and direction and meaning, not to mention the social benefits of interacting in a religious community. In my next post, I will discuss why these other benefits can also be obtained outside the context of traditional religion.
1. When I say "worship," I am referring to specific, conscious activity centered around a God figure. This activity could be religious ritual, deep contemplation, study of religious texts, or meditation. In this post, I will make the case that worship and daily activity are not necessarily disjoint. They are, I think, closely connected. But when I use the "worship" by itself, I refer specifically to God-centered activities.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Spiritual Atheism
In this and the next few posts I am going to describe a brand of spiritualism that is compatible with many concepts of deity - from "no God" to the "unknowable God" to the highly personal God. This idea is new to me, but I am not perfectly well-read in the philosophical and religious literature. Chances are good that someone else thought of this hundreds of years ago.
I originally conceived of this idea while thinking about a common objection that people have about religion. Many people see religious belief as unjustified because there is simply no evidence to support it - there is no quantifiable reason to believe. For some, religion seems to be outdated, outmoded, unfounded, superstitious, untestable, overly emotional.
To put it another way, religion always seems centered around powerful personal emotion. This emotion can, in fact, be so powerful that God can seem more real and literal than the words on this page or the chair you are sitting in1. It is expected that if you are a devoted worshiper, you will begin to "know" that what you are worshiping really exists, irrespective of what that thing happens to be. The following quote, from the book "How God Changes your Brain," illustrates this point:
Don't misunderstand my purpose here - I am not trying to minimize the value of religious belief or invalidate anyone's faith. Rather, I am pointing out an objection that many atheists and agnostics have about religion - specifically, that human beings will predictably believe in whatever religion they choose to immerse themselves in, whether it be Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Mormonism, or whatever. But "believe" isn't strong enough a word, because eventually the belief will feel like certain knowledge. More certain even than physical reality. As a method for finding absolute truth, then, religion seems inadequate because the part of our brain that makes us think something is true doesn't actually care whether that thing is true or not.
It is probably an uncomfortable thing for many religious people to read this - please don't let it bother you. As explained in The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, the existential study of religion has no bearing on religion's value. Just because we are neurologically wired to believe what we worship does not mean that we shouldn't choose to worship.
In fact, studies that measure the neurological effect of religion show that worship is almost always incredibly healthy. In my next post, I will describe how religion positively affects the mind. Then, I will describe how all the positive neurological benefits of religion can be obtained in a way that avoids the atheistic/agnostic objection I described in this post.
1. This has been shown to be true through anecdotal descriptions by scores of religious individuals, and by a number of neurological studies. The book How God Changes Your Brain by Waldman and Newberg describes many of these studies.
I originally conceived of this idea while thinking about a common objection that people have about religion. Many people see religious belief as unjustified because there is simply no evidence to support it - there is no quantifiable reason to believe. For some, religion seems to be outdated, outmoded, unfounded, superstitious, untestable, overly emotional.
To put it another way, religion always seems centered around powerful personal emotion. This emotion can, in fact, be so powerful that God can seem more real and literal than the words on this page or the chair you are sitting in1. It is expected that if you are a devoted worshiper, you will begin to "know" that what you are worshiping really exists, irrespective of what that thing happens to be. The following quote, from the book "How God Changes your Brain," illustrates this point:
"The thalamus [the part of your brain that is mainly responsible for perceiving/interpreting reality] makes no distinction between inner and outer realities, and thus any idea, if contemplated long enough, will take on a semblance of reality. Your belief becomes neurologically real, and your brain will respond accordingly. But for someone else, who has meditated on a different set of beliefs or goals, a different reality will seem true."
Don't misunderstand my purpose here - I am not trying to minimize the value of religious belief or invalidate anyone's faith. Rather, I am pointing out an objection that many atheists and agnostics have about religion - specifically, that human beings will predictably believe in whatever religion they choose to immerse themselves in, whether it be Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Mormonism, or whatever. But "believe" isn't strong enough a word, because eventually the belief will feel like certain knowledge. More certain even than physical reality. As a method for finding absolute truth, then, religion seems inadequate because the part of our brain that makes us think something is true doesn't actually care whether that thing is true or not.
It is probably an uncomfortable thing for many religious people to read this - please don't let it bother you. As explained in The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, the existential study of religion has no bearing on religion's value. Just because we are neurologically wired to believe what we worship does not mean that we shouldn't choose to worship.
In fact, studies that measure the neurological effect of religion show that worship is almost always incredibly healthy. In my next post, I will describe how religion positively affects the mind. Then, I will describe how all the positive neurological benefits of religion can be obtained in a way that avoids the atheistic/agnostic objection I described in this post.
1. This has been shown to be true through anecdotal descriptions by scores of religious individuals, and by a number of neurological studies. The book How God Changes Your Brain by Waldman and Newberg describes many of these studies.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
So much for idealism
Last year about this time I started hunting around for companies that make injection molds (for those who don't know, an "injection mold" is something used to make plastic parts in high quantities). One local company was particularly hospitable. They invited me to their factory, showed me around the manufacturing floor, and introduced me to their lead engineer - all the while emphasizing the benefits of making local contracts instead of foreign ones. "Face-to-face contact, better service, faster lead-times, security (no-one will steal your design here), safety, and perhaps above all, PATRIOTISM."
I found the same general message on their web-site, although it was much more direct. They even had a page devoted specifically to documenting all the cases when Chinese manufacturing had gone bad - poisonous plastics on sandals, toxins in baby food, stolen designs and molds. You name a China-oriented scandal, and they dutifully reported it. I assumed that they were fighting to keep their business running in the face of cheap competition overseas.
Just last week (a year after my first contact with them) I called on them again to get a quote on a new design. The picture this time was completely different. There was no offer for a site visit, no communication with engineering staff, no aggressive self-promotion. I specifically asked if I could talk to an engineer, but they reported that they no longer did mold design. They outsource all their design work to - get this - China! I guess their struggle to justify higher costs in the name of locality and patriotism failed.
I guess sometimes you just can't fight the tides of world-wide economic change. You embrace them or you die.
I found the same general message on their web-site, although it was much more direct. They even had a page devoted specifically to documenting all the cases when Chinese manufacturing had gone bad - poisonous plastics on sandals, toxins in baby food, stolen designs and molds. You name a China-oriented scandal, and they dutifully reported it. I assumed that they were fighting to keep their business running in the face of cheap competition overseas.
Just last week (a year after my first contact with them) I called on them again to get a quote on a new design. The picture this time was completely different. There was no offer for a site visit, no communication with engineering staff, no aggressive self-promotion. I specifically asked if I could talk to an engineer, but they reported that they no longer did mold design. They outsource all their design work to - get this - China! I guess their struggle to justify higher costs in the name of locality and patriotism failed.
I guess sometimes you just can't fight the tides of world-wide economic change. You embrace them or you die.
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