The day seems slow on this board, so here you go:
... biological viruses and computer viruses. In both cases they are parasitic self-replicating codes which exploit the existence of machinery that was set up to copy and obey that kind of code. So I then ask the question, "What if there were a third kind of milieu in which a different kind of self-replicating code could become an effective parasite?" Human brains ... seem to be a likely candidate. Then I ask, "What would it feel like if you were the victim of a mind virus?" Well, you would feel within yourself this deep conviction that seems to come from nowhere. It doesn't result from any evidence, but you have a total conviction that you know what's true ... You go around proselytizing and persuading other people to accept your view. The more you write down the features that such a mind virus would have, the more it starts to look like religion. I do think that the Roman Catholic religion is a disease of the mind which has a particular epidemiology similar to that of a virus.
------ Richard Dawkings
Remembering that while the above cited text obviously does not apply to the one true religion that you, dear reader, subscribe to - it explains how the rest of the religions and cults are really people infected by a virus-like phenomena because their minds' firmware has "security glitch" making them suceptible.
miko
[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: miko2d ]
