Comment by daveguy
4 days ago
To be fair, scripture doesn't actively change to increase obsessive engagement at the expense of all else.
4 days ago
To be fair, scripture doesn't actively change to increase obsessive engagement at the expense of all else.
But the argument was that your average peasant would not be able to understand the scripture and be deceived.
Not that different from arguing that your average American can’t see through propaganda on TikTok - I think they can.
And if the argument is that it’s addictive, I mean ok? Lots of things are addictive that aren’t severely harmful. We tolerate those as well.
The argument about teens is an entirely different one, I’m talking about adults.
it does, just more slowly - modern religions are absolutely the result of natural selection for virality and fervor in the field of ideas
I'd argue the two are like comparing apples and oranges. Yes, there is a competition of ideas, but accepted scripture is changed so much more slowly than society itself that it cannot exploit the zeitgeist of any one trend. More importantly, it doesn't change differently to each individual to maximize addictive interaction. The slowness is a feature. I'm not saying there aren't some problems with religion being exploitative, but the responsiveness is what makes social media a much more effective manipulator.