a) Sometime in the mid 21st century the Jones-Markus experiment attempted to create a capuchin monkey with human intelligence. The experiment, however, outdid its intentions by several degrees and created a new species far smarter than any human. As the monkeys matured, they turned out to be very prolific breeders, with very active minds, and a propensity to engage in scientific discussions. The experiment was such a sensation that many families around the world ended up adopting super-capuchins as personal problem solvers. After integrating well into every human society and solving almost every problem the planet was facing, the monkeys decided that they were better than humans at managing the world, and rebelled. The ensuing Three-Day's-War destroyed most of the historical records, decreased the human population to about ten thousand humans survivors. Having created a paradise, the monkeys began to slow down their scientific pursuits, and over generations began developing distinct cultures, customs, philosophies and politics of their own. Tensions broke out when the two largest North American tribes could not agree on the most righteous way to peel bananas. The West tribe insisted that it is sacrilege to peel from the stem down, while the East tribe claimed moral authority citing that it was the way of the First Born, the matriarch of their tribe. Similar disputes broke out in Europe over which species of apples were impure and sinful to eat, and in East Asia, where the Jonesians waged a war against Markusians over which god-prophet was the true bringer of life. Each side to every conflict was quick to point out the stupidity and inconsistencies in the beliefs of their enemies, and claimed moral superiority over others.
b)This is a good example of an invented case because:
This case sheds some light on how religious faith is developed and becomes widely accepted and reinforced by societies, and that it often does not follow any rational guidelines, as evidenced by the two tribes fighting over banana rituals.
It shows that faith is a set of beliefs of an individual or a group of people, or a nation, and how these beliefs may be different from those of anothergroup, yet at the same time do not have to be about anything factual, consequential, or particular, as presented in the war over which apples should not be eaten.
It also illustrates how faith is often rooted in tradition, oral history, or pre-history, where evidence and facts are unclear, as shown by the war over which of the two scientists played a greater role in the creation of the original super-monkeys.
The issue of uncertainty brings the concepts back to the idea that irrationality is unconcerned with reality, and faith deals with unanswerable questions
The case suggests that faith is a substitute for reasoning, and that leads to mass irrationality, or that when intellectual rigor is relaxed, beliefs replace rationality.
The monkeys started as a rational, scientific, problem solving race, but ended up in the same turmoil as their human predecessors. This suggests that whether faith is irrational is guided by what standards the faith is set on, and what is accepted as its foundation.
Fighting over inconsequential belief systems leads to no benefits, and has no social value, except to those politically motivated. The monkeys are mobilized by their faiths into war.
c)
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FAITH
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IRRATIONALITY
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Reinforced by communities
Developed as a system
Set of beliefs
Rooted in tradition
Gives answers where evidence is unclear
Intellectually lazy
Does not need rational guidelines
Mobilizing masses to action
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Intellectually lazy
Unconcerned with reality
Without foundation
Inconsequential conflict
Politically motivated
Moral self-righteousness
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