We are the descendants of those who were most successful at finding patterns.

...If you assume that the rustle in the grass is just the wind but it turns out that it is a dangerous predator (...) your lunch. (and) you are no longer a member of the hominid gene pool.

Our brains are belief engines, evolved pattern-recognition machines that connect the dots and create meaning out of the patterns that we think we see in nature.

Page 60-61 of section 2 (The Biology of Belief) Chapter 4

Oh and the link above to yhe lecture didn't work so here it is again:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqAw...e_gdata_player

***(1:19:37) 68, 807 views