The Prisoner's Dilemma: How Cooperation With Protecting One's Interest Is The Key To Survival

"The Prisoner's Dilemma is a game theory thought experiment that involves two rational agents, each of whom can cooperate for mutual benefit or betray their partner ("defect") for individual reward. This dilemma was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher in 1950 while they worked at the RAND Corporation.[citation needed] Albert W. Tucker later formalized the game by structuring the rewards in terms of prison sentences and named it the "prisoner's dilemma".[1]

"The prisoner's dilemma models many real-world situations involving strategic behavior. In casual usage, the label "prisoner's dilemma" may be applied to any situation in which two entities could gain important benefits from cooperating or suffer from failing to do so, but find it difficult or expensive to coordinate their activities." (Wikipedia)

Click on the link below for a video explaining this complicated process for maximizing human well-being:

What The Prisoner's Dilemma Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything

No, Religion Does NOT Make Society Better

Numerous studies have debunked the notion that a society must have religion to be good. Click on the link below for a particularly good science-based video presentation by Social Scientist Phil Zuckerman explaining the results of Secularization in free democratic countries:

What Happens When Societies Stop Worshipping God?

Republican America Is Worse Than Democrat America

Republicans like to lie about the difference between rural Republican areas of the US as compared to the more urban Democratic areas. 

Click on the link below that presents the FACTS that are readily available. Note how they are comparing per capita statistics and not the gross numbers that distort the truth because of the generally less populated areas:

The Truth About Red And Blue USA

Parental Rights And Responsibilities

There is a great deal of discussion, and disagreement, regarding parental rights and responsibilities in the political environment of the USA presently. While most legal sources agree that the parents are the prime sources of proper nurturing and protection of the child, they also agree that outside resources are necessary to aid in achieving the goal of a happy, healthy, and well-educated child. After all, the parent is not the "owner" of the child (and neither is the state). 

With that said, what happens when parents do not meet their responsibilities in child-rearing? There is little societal disagreement regarding not tolerating physical (exception: corporal punishment) or emotional abuse, and/or failure to provide food, clothing, and shelter. However, the areas of health and education can present situations ripe for disagreement, especially if one's ideology is based on claims unsupported by evidence:

• Health: circumcision? vaccinations? birth-control? hormone replacement therapy? gender reassignment surgery? abortion? alternatives to medicine?
• Education: religious indoctrination? secular morality? evolution, and other sciences? history (of racism, inequality,  colonialism, genocide, wars, greed, authoritarianism, individualism, communism, socialism, democracy, republicanism, tribalism, capitalism)?

What to do with all of this?

Most Atheist Countries 2022

LINK

Please note that the more atheistic countries tend to be ranked the highest in well-being (link)

The Elephant In The Room

Religious apologists love to cite research showing a correlation between being religious and happiness and health. However, is it being religious or being actively associated with a congregation of like-minded people? Evidence points to the latter. (link) Research on humanistic social activities may give a clearer picture here. (link) 

In addition, the following links point to the reality of social inequality and high religiosity being correlated with societal dysfunction:

High Religiosity and Societal Dysfunction

Nordic Exceptionalism

Happiest Countries Non-Religious

Happiest US States Non-Religious

Well-known Negative Effects of Religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room

Correlation Is Not Causation, But - - -

- - - please show me the value of religion here:

Least Religious Countries

Most Religious Countries

The Most & Least Stable Countries in the World

Top 10 Most Loved Countries in the World

No, Religious Societies Are NOT Better

There is a trove of data rejecting the claim that religious societies are better. Click on the links below for the truth:

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"Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not."

Secular Societies Fare Better Than Religious Societies

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

Is Atheism the Downfall of Nations? Here's What the Data Says

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

The Christian Blessing Debunked

What Kind Of Society Do YOU Want To Live In?

Religious folks who are active in apologetics and/or politics usually are motivated to promote a more religious society. The following 3 videos should dispel the falsehood that people and societies need to be religious to be good:

"Are secular countries worse off than religious ones? Is atheism the downfall of nations? Are countries cursed by god when they stray from the faith? Or do non-religious outperform religious countries on measures of wealth, well-being, and success? Today, we'll dive into the data to see if atheism is, in fact, the downfall of nations or if the blessing of God/curse of secularism is a myth."

Is Atheism the Downfall of Nations?

"Are Christian countries better off than secular countries? Does God bless Christian nations and curse atheist countries? Or are the secular countries better off when we measure wealth, prosperity, happiness, and well-being?"

The Christian Blessing Debunked 

"Does following Islam lead to prosperity and blessing and does apostasy lead to divine curse and nation-wide ruin? Today we'll explore the data and see if Muslim countries are more successful, happy, and prosperous than secular countries to see if Allah blesses nations that follow him or if secular countries are better off."

The Blessing of Islam Debunked

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"Time to slap down the criticisms of my research. Here's an in-depth overview of my methodology and all caveats related to my recent videos which showed that on a macro-level, secular countries rank far better on measures of wealth, prosperity, and well-being than religious countries do."

Defending my Research - Secular Countries ARE Better Off on Average

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This also applies to US states (link).

It's Not The Religion, It Is the Socialization

"The majority of social science research on religiosity and associated variables has tended to focus on putative beneficial aspects, implying that the absence of religious belief is accompanied by liabilities. However, a closer examination of the literature reveals that the mechanisms of most beneficial associations with religiosity are attributable to factors other than beliefs, chiefly, social engagement and embeddeness in supportive groups. Often, those with the lowest levels of well-being and prosociality are uncommitted or indifferent religious believers, not socially engaged nonbelievers.Therefore, defining individuals who are not committed or engaged in socially supportive groups solely in terms of their lack of religious belief virtually guarantees that atheists and agnostics will appear inferior on a variety of outcome variables. However, nonbelief and secular worldviews can also be practiced in social groups such as atheist, humanist, and freethought organizations. Contrary to prevalent stereotypes, organized nonbelief is also associated with well-being and prosociality equivalent to that seen with organized religious belief. Notable areas of relative advantage for nonbelievers are in the domains of outgroup tolerance and moral universalism.
 

Read more at http://researcherslinks.com/current-issues/Atheism-Wellbeing-and-the-Wager-Why-Not-Believing-in-God-With-Others-is-Good-for-You/9/16/120/html#eqf0pDB1BIxcWBPl.99

Is Shedding Of So-Called "Family Values" Harmful?

The Religious Right laments the changing social landscape in the USA, which includes accepting of divorce, contraception, abortion and LGBT rights.  They see it as an attack on "Family Values" and "Religious Freedom."  What is the truth regarding the effects of these changes?   While it is true that the percentage of people married in the USA has been decreasing over the last several decades, what negative effects can the Religious Right point to?  Following are data showing societal trends in important categories:

Are The Religious More Moral And Happy?

Are the religious more moral and happier than atheists?  Following are several links in support of the claim that the answer is "No."

The Psychological Need For Certainty

"Agnosticism is something that doesn’t come easy to us. In fact, this is compounded by research that shows that people with more adamant and certain beliefs – think fundamentalist Christians and militant atheists – appear to be happier than those with more wavering beliefs. Certainty does make us happier."

Note that atheists AND the religious with firmly held beliefs are the happiest.  To clarify, I, and most atheists I know, realize that absolute certainty is elusive.  We are just certain that it is most probable that there is no interventionist god.

Morality: What Is It And How Do We Agree About It?

I am not going to retrace the arguments for objective vs subjective morality, or religious vs secular morality.  I am only going to posit my view on the subject very briefly here.

Morality is subjective, even if one accepts the unsupported claim that it comes from a god (Hello, God is a person, right?  A person is subjective).  Most humans have an embedded sense of right and wrong, good and bad.  I think most sane humans can agree that morality is the highest level of well-being for the most numbers of feeling beings.  From there, humans acting in organizations can use the tools of science to determine what objective actions maximize well-being.  Simple.

The Religious Cannot Put Lipstick On This Relationship

"As always, societies that don’t take religion very seriously tend to be the most successful societies."

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/christianity-today-gives-the-wrong-answer-to-question-of-why-are-less-wealthy-countries-more-religious/