How Religion Evolved with Robin Dunbar — Factually! with Adam Conover

This was a fascinating interview about the evolution of religion in human society. Looking beyond the facile argument that reduces the debate to one of truth, Dunbar talks about the way different religions affected the ways humans settled. Thinking about religion as an evolutionary adaptation that created in-groups and out-groups and serving specific organizational functions for humans, and not just hard questions about the nature of reality, helps clarify why simple scientific knowledge hasn't displaced its role in societies. Strong civic religions have created secular replacements, though those schisms have been nearly as violent as their religous counterparts.