great another video about Dune I bet
0:02
it's so original and makes points no one
0:04
has ever heard before Fair Point there
0:07
hypothetical commenter none of my
0:09
discussion of scientific theories here
0:10
will be new information to those who are
0:13
extremely familiar with the past two
0:15
decades of scholarship on religious
0:16
psychology nor will my praise of dun's
0:19
depiction of religion surprise those
0:21
familiar with the story I'm betting
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though that the overlap between these
0:26
two groups of people is small enough
0:28
that most of you will find this video
0:30
original enough to leave me a like if by
0:33
the end you don't go ahead and comment
0:35
May thy YouTube career chip and shatter
0:37
and I'll accept it also since any kind
0:40
of Engagement helps it's kind of a win
0:41
for me either
0:43
way so yes religion in Dune is good and
0:48
since Dune part two is still fresh in
0:50
all of our minds I'll Focus my
0:52
commentary on this film spoilers by the
0:55
way when I saw the scene where sgar
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explains the sacred pools from which no
1:00
fman would ever drink I was basically
1:02
screaming that's totally in line with
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Richard Sosa's costly signaling Theory
1:07
this is
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amazing but since Alamo Draft House
1:10
Cinema apparently has a no tolerance
1:13
policy for sharing even insightful
1:15
commentary like mine this went
1:17
completely unappreciated and my wife was
1:19
pissed the whole ride home about this
1:22
scene sgar explains that when a fan dies
1:26
the water in their body is removed and
1:28
put into one of the Fan's pools of of
1:30
the Dead underground not even a fan
1:32
dying of thirst would drink this water
1:34
he tells lady Jessica it's sacred there
1:37
are supposedly thousands of these pools
1:40
and on a planet where the people won't
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even cry to mourn their dead because
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it's a waste of water having a taboo
1:46
against using these millions of gallons
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seems like a colossal waste but from a
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sociological perspective it's absolutely
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brilliant in a study of 19th century
1:58
communes anthropology Richard sosus
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found that religious communes endured
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far better than secular communes after
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analyzing every Factor he could sosus
2:08
found that one variable coincided with a
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community's longevity more than any
2:13
other the number of costly sacrifices a
2:16
commune demanded from its members this
2:19
included things like fasting abstinence
2:22
from Alcohol Tobacco and certain foods
2:24
conforming to a dress code or cutting
2:26
off relationships with Outsiders the
2:29
more sacrif prices a commune demanded
2:31
the longer it lasted upholding an
2:34
extreme taboo against drinking from this
2:37
massive supply of water demands an
2:39
extraordinary Sacrifice from every fman
2:42
one which they're reminded of nearly
2:43
every day in their sies in this way fman
2:47
culture makes an ingenious tradeoff one
2:50
precious resource water is traded for
2:53
one even more valuable the coherence and
2:56
longevity of their very social order
2:59
from Society is pretty remarkable it's
3:02
egalitarian relatively free of internal
3:05
conflict extremely resilient and capable
3:07
of overpowering the har Conan a group
3:10
with vastly greater resources this is I
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think due in large part to their
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brilliant system of religious rituals
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and taboos to me this is the true source
3:21
of so-called desert
3:25
[Applause]
3:28
power
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Richard sosus found that secular
3:33
communes which demanded costly
3:35
sacrifices didn't see the same effect on
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their longevity that religious communes
3:40
did he argued that this is because
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religious communes could sacralize their
3:45
demands as Rapaport stated to invest
3:49
social conventions with sanctity is to
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hide their arbitrariness in a cloak of
3:53
seeming necessity Sanctified rituals
3:56
Define what it is to be human for the
3:58
believer Al though secular rituals can
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generate a sense of community and
4:03
obligation toward group members their
4:05
performers perceive them as
4:08
capricious this brings me to channi and
4:11
the perspective she voices about the
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Fan's religious views especially the
4:14
prophecy she fights for the well-being
4:17
of her people not because of any
4:19
religious edict and she states the
4:21
reasonable opinion that belief in the
4:24
prophecy keeps the fmen complacent in
4:26
their oppression just waiting around for
4:28
their Messiah
4:30
I and I'm sure most viewers sympathized
4:33
with her perspective while also finding
4:36
the way her thoughts fell on deaf fears
4:38
to be painfully
4:40
realistic so why can't the secular fman
4:43
gain the social power of the religious
4:46
Chan's secular motivations according to
4:49
sosus could not demand unquestioning
4:52
adherence thus reinforcing social custom
4:54
and cohesion as well as religious
4:57
ideology by directing rich ual's
5:00
reference toward the unfalsifiable
5:02
religions attach themselves to Ultimate
5:04
beliefs that are unverifiable and hence
5:07
potentially eternally true these
5:09
ultimate sacred postulates are not
5:12
subject to the vicissitudes of
5:14
examination they are Beyond examination
5:17
making them much Stabler reference than
5:19
those employed by secular
5:22
rituals we saw just how unfalsifiable
5:26
sar's religious views were several times
5:29
especially when he took Paul's denial of
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being the Mii as even further
5:33
confirmation that he
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was another M will you please listen I
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am not the Messiah do you understand
5:41
honestly only the true Messiah denies
5:45
his divinity what what sort of J does
5:48
that give me all right I am the Messiah
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he
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[Applause]
5:55
is it's no wonder then from an informed
5:58
perspective that the religious
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ultimately directed The Fan's actions in
6:03
both waiting for the MTI and fighting
6:05
alongside
6:09
Paul now let's talk about the
6:12
fundamentalists in the South it's said
6:14
in the film that nothing can survive
6:17
down there without faith this
6:19
association between inhospitable
6:21
environments and increased levels of
6:23
religious fervor is accurate to what we
6:25
observe in the real
6:27
world natural disasters are known to
6:30
increase religiosity in those who
6:32
experience them in 2011 an earthquake
6:35
struck Christ Church New Zealand killing
6:38
over 130 people and injuring hundreds
6:41
more a longitudinal study was conducted
6:43
on the population of the country and
6:46
researchers found that there was a
6:48
significant upturn in religious Faith
6:50
among those who experienced the misery
6:52
of New Zealand's most lethal natural
6:54
disaster in 80
6:56
years further in their research on War
6:59
torn communities in Uganda Tajikistan
7:02
and Sierra Leon a team of
7:04
anthropologists led by Joseph Henrik
7:06
found that people exposed to Violent
7:08
conflict were more likely to attend
7:10
religious services and participate in
7:12
religious rituals why is this it seems
7:16
that religious ritual can help reduce
7:18
anxiety in unstable or hostile
7:21
environments in a study of women
7:23
impacted by the 2006 Lebanon war our
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friend Richard sosus and his co-author w
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pan handw worker found that women who
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regularly recited Psalms experienced
7:34
lower rates of anxiety than those who
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didn't and the closer they were to the
7:39
conflict the more the ritual reduced
7:41
anxiety undoubtedly the fman in the
7:44
South face existential threats on a
7:46
daily basis given that the place is so
7:49
uninhabitable that the har Conan didn't
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even think to look for them there this
7:54
drives them to cling tightly to their
7:56
religious beliefs and Customs which help
7:58
them manage the near nearly impossible
8:00
task of surviving in the southern
8:02
hemisphere of
8:04
araus Dune gets it right then that it's
8:07
only certain people in the North in
8:09
relatively less hostile environments
8:11
that get by on their belief in freman
8:14
rather than on the intense religious
8:16
ritualization of everyday
8:19
life another thing it gets right
8:21
religious fundamentalism can motivate
8:24
support for war in Dune it's basically a
8:28
given that the southern fundamental will
8:30
go to war by the millions if the MTI
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shows up to lead them accordingly
8:35
research has found that among Americans
8:37
religious fundamentalism was associated
8:40
with greater support for extreme
8:42
military
8:44
interventions at this point some of you
8:47
might have noticed the potential for a
8:49
vicious cycle here the hardship of War
8:52
can motivate religious fervor and
8:54
religious fervor can motivate support
8:57
for war Joseph Henrik suggests that
9:00
through this relationship between
9:01
religion and conflict there stands the
9:04
possibility for feedback loops to
9:06
develop one thing that's interesting to
9:09
think about is I think there's other
9:10
evidence that suggest that religions
9:11
make people more Cooperative make them
9:13
Bond better as a group lead to Greater
9:15
solidarity so uh one possibility is that
9:18
there have been historical feedbacks
9:19
where religion led to a group say
9:21
spreading widely diffusing and then the
9:23
experience of War made them more
9:24
religious and so you can imagine you get
9:26
some kind of feedback loose there there
9:28
could be various ways in which religion
9:30
causes uh Warfare one would be that it
9:33
it makes people more relig more
9:34
Cooperative more parochial um more
9:37
tightly bound as a group and then that
9:39
group is able to uh Force its will or it
9:41
believes it'll be more successful in
9:43
conflict with other groups so in the
9:45
next Dune film will we see this feedback
9:48
loop in action if the holy war Paul
9:50
foresees does come about we just might
9:54
it depends on how the story is adapted
9:56
for the screen but I think there's a
9:58
good chance the next film will depict
10:00
religious psychology just as accurately
10:03
as dune part
10:06
two finally we've got to talk about the
10:10
film's incredible depiction of what
10:12
Joseph Henrik calls credibility
10:14
enhancing displays or creds for short
10:17
this is another theory that revolves
10:19
around costly religious behaviors toward
10:21
the end of the film princess iron and
10:24
Emperor shadam talk about how to deal
10:26
with the uprising of the freman princess
10:28
iron says if this mu Adib is a religious
10:31
figure you can't use direct Force
10:34
repression only makes religion flourish
10:37
you'll only end up humiliating yourself
10:39
prophets get stronger when they die now
10:43
anyone familiar with the countless
10:45
Christian and Muslim Martyrs know that
10:47
last statement to be true but why is
10:50
that according to henrik's theory of
10:52
creds engaging in costly behaviors for
10:55
the sake of your religion influences
10:57
those in observation to see your
10:59
religious ideals as credible after all
11:02
if you're willing to sacrifice for a
11:04
belief there must be something to that
11:07
belief so if your religion requires say
11:10
uh religious leaders priests whatever
11:12
the whatever the relevant category is to
11:14
engage in costly displays this could be
11:17
um food tabos fouls of poverty um
11:21
sacrifice walking on hot coals so
11:23
there's a whole wide Ray of these things
11:25
that you see across the world in
11:27
different religions that makes them a
11:28
more effective transmitter cuz when you
11:30
see someone engage in one of these
11:31
costly things like celibacy that doesn't
11:34
seem like something someone would do
11:35
unless they really believe the undying
11:37
Supernatural beliefs I mean if you look
11:39
at uh the role of martyrdom in religions
11:42
um so you know Jesus or uh the early
11:45
Christian Martyrs martyr themselves and
11:46
they're willing to die for their beliefs
11:48
that's persuasive to a learner that this
11:50
person really believed in heaven or
11:52
whatever they were whatever so mdom
11:54
essentially being the
11:55
ultimate display the ultimate cred
11:58
interesting
12:00
there is empirical support for this
12:02
Theory by the way Henrik and his team
12:04
have found that individuals who were
12:07
exposed to high levels of religious
12:09
creds by their caregivers were
12:11
especially likely to report currently
12:12
believing in the existence of God with
12:15
high certainty conversely those exposed
12:18
to especially low levels of religious
12:20
creds were most likely to currently
12:22
report a lack of belief in God with high
12:25
certainty they also found that verbal
12:28
expressions of Rel ious belief and
12:30
prodding of one's children to believe
12:32
have limited efficacy in the absence of
12:34
creds so princess Iran was right that
12:38
prophets get stronger when they die as
12:41
their death functions as the strongest
12:43
possible cred for their belief system
12:46
still though Paul was able to use ceds
12:49
both intentionally and unintentionally
12:52
to shore up the fen's belief in him
12:54
without becoming a martyr Paul fights
12:57
alongside the fman constantly risking
12:59
his life for their cause this earns him
13:02
a place among the fedin but also even
13:05
though Paul does not mean for this to
13:06
reinforce anyone's belief in his place
13:08
in the prophecy it absolutely does
13:12
certain Believers become even more
13:13
confident that Paul knows on some level
13:16
that he is the lisan alib that is ced's
13:19
in action after Paul drinks the Water of
13:23
Life though he seems to purposely use
13:25
creds to his Advantage he gains enough
13:28
pressence to know that fighting the
13:30
emperor's Champion fade Rafa will injure
13:33
but not kill him others don't know this
13:36
though fighting fade seems like a
13:39
massive risk to everyone else except
13:42
maybe lady
13:43
Jessica it appears that Paul is willing
13:46
to die for his belief in the prophecy
13:49
and his place in it this is very nearly
13:52
what Henrik calls the ultimate cred so
13:57
by fighting fade Paul massively boost
14:00
others faith in the prophecy and in him
14:03
all without actually paying the full
14:06
price of this costly display okay let me
14:09
tell you why I think it's so remarkable
14:12
that this story gets so much right about
14:14
the psychology of religion all of the
14:17
research I cited in this video was done
14:19
within the last 30 years and much of it
14:22
within the last 15 Frank Herbert
14:25
published Dune in
14:28
1965
14:29
Herbert was an experienced journalist
14:32
and apparently learned a good deal from
14:34
two psychologist friends of his in the
14:35
1950s but to write something this in
14:38
line with psychological and
14:40
anthropological theories that would only
14:42
be devised decades later is just
14:45
astounding so let me know what you think
14:48
was this enough of an original take on
14:50
Dune to be worth watching is there
14:52
anything I missed is there anything you
14:54
think Dune gets wrong about the
14:56
psychology of religion I look forward to
14:58
reading your comments thanks for
14:59
watching I've been Drew of genetically
15:01
modified skeptic a special thanks to my
15:03
patrons for their constant love and
15:04
support if you want to hear more from me
15:06
then subscribe as always if you are an
15:09
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15:11
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15:12
find Community and Mental Health support
15:14
remember to be kind to others in the
15:16
comments and until next

summarize everything in list and points concisely and in detail