Summary: What Electric Eels Tell Us About The Evolution Of Religion

1. Article: What Electric Eels Tell Us About the Evolution of Religion (The World Until Yesterday Ch. 9), Jared Diamond

2. Vocabulary:

• Lianas: woody vines often found in rainforests.

• Omnipotent: having unlimited power, usually refers to a god.

• Populous: having a large number of people, animals, or plants.

• Patriotism: love towards a country, religion, or idea.

• Unitarians: a person or people who believes that God is one being.

• Misanthrope: a person who dislikes or distrusts humankind and avoids human society.

• Atheist: one who does not believe in God or gods; they are often thought of as one without a religion.

3. Main Ideas:

• Long ago everyone lived in the same place and spoke the same language. The hunters eventually learned to

To save themselves, the murderer and his relatives climbed up an ironwood tree, only to have the attackers pull on the lianas hanging on the tree.

• The lianas snapped and the murderer and his relatives were sent flying in different directions. Because they flew far, their languages became more different as time passed. This made it hard for people to understand each other and difficult for hunters to catch game.

• This story is told by tribal people in Northern New Guinea and is classified as an “origin myth.” Other examples include: the Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel.

• Nearly all human societies have a sort of religion, suggesting that it must fulfill some universal human need or originate from human nature that everyone has. However, when did religion appear and why does some religions preach murder and suicide when we associate religion with humanity’s “noble” side.

• The book questions the origin of religion and the idea of it. Today, religion is a section where traditional values live within modern societies.

• Religions usually involved huge investments for individuals and societies. The author wonders what benefits religion could bring and the “functions” of

People, hermits, who practice a religion alone cannot be considered religious.

• The third attribute is that people must sacrifice somethings to show that they practice the religion and are committed to it. Sacrifices can be time, money, private property, or a person’s bodily comfort or integrity.

• The fourth attribute of a religion is that it should show how people should act; such as laws, moral codes, taboos, and obligations.

• The last category state that religions should have supernatural agents that reward the good, rule-obeying people and punish the bad.

• These five attributes are what a religion is comprised of. It differentiates between a religion and phenomena that contains some of the attributes, such as patriotism and ethnic pride.

4. Thesis: There are five characteristics of a religion. A religion should include some form of supernatural force or being, it should be practiced by a group of people, the believers of said religion must make sacrifices showing dedication the religion, the religion should contain proofs of how an individual should act, and it should have supernatural beings or forces that intervene in a believer’s