I wonder, then, if Eliezer’s explanation/argument could be applied just as well to the preservation and encouragement of worship of the divine,
It can be applied equally well to every bias, prejudice, preconception, and inbuilt drive humans possess. Any arbitrary tradition, any cultural viewpoint, any habitual practice.
None of those things will be our gift to the future. Our gift will not be the strategies we acquired through luck, stumbling onto the correct paths through the maze by trial and error. It will be the ability to understand what makes strategies correct, the ability to look ahead and foresee the territory yet to come, and to design strategies to cope with its challenges.
Rationality is deeply alien to human beings; it doesn’t come naturally to us at all. The things that do come naturally, that are part of our nature? None of us can say what our descendants will or will not do, but there is no reason to believe that any particular part of human nature will be worthy in their eyes. Like pouring water from one container to another, minds will take new shapes appropriate to their circumstances. The one thing we can say about it is that we can say nothing else.
None of those things will be our gift to the future. Our gift will not be the strategies we acquired through luck, stumbling onto the correct paths through the maze by trial and error. It will be the ability to understand what makes strategies correct, the ability to look ahead and foresee the territory yet to come, and to design strategies to cope with its challenges.
Rationality is deeply alien to human beings; it doesn’t come naturally to us at all. The things that do come naturally, that are part of our nature? None of us can say what our descendants will or will not do, but there is no reason to believe that any particular part of human nature will be worthy in their eyes. Like pouring water from one container to another, minds will take new shapes appropriate to their circumstances. The one thing we can say about it is that we can say nothing else.
That’s what singularities are all about.