Why Do Humans Create Gods?
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Why Do Humans Create Gods?
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About this listen
Why have humans, in every culture and era, imagined gods? Is it fear of death, the need for meaning, or something hard-wired in our brains? In this episode of People Need to Know, we explore the science and history behind humanity’s oldest question.
We’ll dive into:
• Cognitive roots — why our minds over-detect agency, see purpose in nature, and easily remember stories about invisible beings.
• Emotions & mortality — how anxiety about death and chaos makes god-ideas powerful buffers of meaning and control.
• Ritual & experience — how chanting, fasting, and costly commitments make gods feel real and deepen group bonds.
• Social functions — why “Big Gods” who monitor morality help large societies cooperate and endure.
• History & culture — how small spirits, ancestor cults, and pantheons evolved into universal, moralizing deities.
This deep-dive unpacks how gods arise at the crossroads of mind, mortality, ritual, and society—and why, once created, they never feel like “just inventions.”