The "Greed Bug" vs. Reliability In Business
The "Greed Bug" vs. Reliability In Business
When it comes to business, there is a concept that goes by the name of the Greed Bug. This term originated from Richard Dawkins who coined it in his parable about Darwin's theory of natural selection, The Selfish Gene, which was written in 1976.
The term is used in context to describe an aspect of the human condition where individuals will act selfishly to achieve their personal wealth and success. This, of course, isn't true of Darwinists or atheists in general.
The story goes that one day Darwin was driving down a country road and saw an insect on the road. He stopped to pick it up and discovered it was a beetle. Upon examining the insect more closely he realized that beetles don't work together. They don't work together to reproduce or to survive. The individual beetle does not need the cooperation of other beetles in order for him to survive; he simply survives by being problem free, which leads to greater evolutionary advantage for him as a beetle that looks after its own needs unaided by others. The beetle that is most careful in taking care of his own needs and is not hampered by a greedy disposition will be more likely to survive.
Religionists grant us an imaginary or supernatural being named "God" that has characteristics of what the Darwinist believes to be the nature of the Greed Bug.
The individual does not need others in order for himself to survive (by belief and worship). He simply survives by being problem free. The religionist that is most careful in taking care of his own needs (worship) unaided by others will be more likely to survive, just as the species that takes care of its own survival unaided by other species will be more likely to survive.
Religionists grant us an imaginary or supernatural being named "God" that has characteristics of what the Darwinist believes to be the nature of the Greed Bug. For this reason, religionists are as greedy as they believe "God" is. In fact, they are even more greedy because they believe in an imaginary being that is literally limitless in his greed for souls and money (money can buy you anything). They will go to insane lengths and spend tens of thousands or millions of dollars on adulation and worship, which is simply a machine for producing more Greed Bugs, which will in turn need money to survive.
The evidence that I have presented so far does not prove God does not exist. It does, however, disprove the existence of a supernatural God.
Can there be a true religion? Yes. Is it possible for a true religion to exist if it has no relationship with the God of the Bible? No, it isn't because the Bible tells us that God is Greed Bug. If there is no Greed Bug, then there can be no true religion that gets its requirements from an imaginary or supernatural being called God.
Voltaire said: "Do not expect to be wise until you have grown old." This is wisdom of which I am also a firm believer. We don't know how life works in its simplest form until we are older and wiser. The existence of the Greed Bug has changed my entire view on life.
I have no idea what the Greed Bug is, I just know that is how we (human beings) work. We just do what we do. There is no need to question why we are here or where it ends because it doesn't matter as long as we get our needs met in an orderly and progressive manner. This self-serving behavior is not limited to human beings, it seems to be part of our very nature as a race or species. If there were no Greed Bugs, then maybe I could agree with Dawkins about "Selfish Gene". It is true that individuals do not need the cooperation of others in order to survive, but I don't think this applies to human beings. Humans need their fellow humans.
There are two main reasons why human beings have always lived in groups and have never been able to live alone for more than a couple of weeks: 1) we need help from other humans and 2) we are physiologically programmed to be part of a group. I will expand on both aspects later, but first let us try to define what we mean by "Greed Bug".
I recall some years ago when I was traveling to Africa with several friends (at the end of my U.S. Air Force career). On the flight to Lagos, Nigeria, we had a short layover in Amsterdam where I got to see the sights. The small city was very beautiful (at least compared to living conditions in the U.S.). As I looked out of the airplane window, I noticed one particular house that was different from all of the others. It seemed to me that this house had been built higher and farther back from any other houses I could see. This was no doubt because it served as a lookout for criminals and thieves hiding in secret behind bushes or tall grasses. I recall thinking that if the only way to survive and keep your belongings in one piece was to live in a lookout house or building, then I would definitely move out of town.
This observation came to my mind recently when I was thinking about the origins of religion. If there is no Greed Bug, then what is the cause of religion? What kind of life force would have humans believe that we need and want an imaginary being like God? There are two main reasons why human beings have always lived in groups and have never been able to live alone for more than a couple of weeks: 1) we need help from other humans and 2) we are physiologically programmed to be part of a group.
As I mentioned above, I have no idea what the Greed Bug is, because it seems to be part of how we work. We just do what we do. There is no need to question why we are here or where it ends because it doesn't matter as long as we get our needs met in an orderly and progressive manner. This self-serving behavior is not limited to human beings, it seems to be part of our very nature as a race or species. If there were no Greed Bugs, then maybe I could agree with Dawkins about "Selfish Gene". It is true that individuals do not need the cooperation of others in order to survive, but I don't think this applies to human beings.
Conclusion: As mentioned above, we have no idea what the Greed Bug is or where it came from. We observe its effects (greed and self-serving behavior) and we give it names like God and Greed Bug. We do this because we do not understand it. Since there is no way to understand what we cannot see, feel, touch, taste or smell, it would seem that the only way to explain these phenomena is with an imaginary being or beings (God).
The effect of religion on human behavior has been observed for many thousands of years. This leads me to believe that this phenomenon of religion is a natural development of human beings living in groups.