ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I set out the argument that the core cognitive architecture responsible for scientific progress is the same that drives the propagation of religious ideas. This argument is based on evidence that in the Acheulean our ancestors became strongly motivated to satisfy social concerns and this laid the foundation for our species-specific proclivity for high-fidelity imitation, something that emerges ontogenetically early in our development. High-fidelity imitation in turn paved the way for the emergence of cumulative culture, where innovations are progressively incorporated into a population’s stock of skills and knowledge, generating ever more sophisticated repertoires. This core aspect of human cognition underpins scientific and technological advances. Commensurate with this proclivity to copy everything others do comes a tradeoff that functionally irrelevant behaviors will be easily maintained and transmitted. Rituals, and by extension religious practices, are an expression of this. Because of this common cognitive framework anchored deep in our evolutionary past, science and religion will remain connected in ways that paradoxically mean the latter will continue to thrive in the face of advances in the former.
