A figment of human imagination

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4740178&page=1

This news piece dates back to 2008. It talks about an anthropological idea, which argues that humans are the only species to practice religion because they have the “brain architecture to imagine” and to unify with groups on the basis of a common belief. The author of the idea uses the term “transcendental social” to describe this social phenomena. He claims, "What the transcendental social requires is the ability to live very largely in the imagination.”

Is religion really just a figment of human imagination (a foma that keeps you “brave and kind and healthy and happy?”), rather than a path to discovering the greater truth? I guess that’s the ultimate question and the discussion might never sum up to a satisfactory conclusion. However, the point I wanted to make is, for something that’s believed to be a “figment of human imagination,” religion is extremely real. To me, that says a lot about the potency of human imagination.

In Cat’s Cradle, human imagination is presented as something both inevitable and detrimental to humanity. On one hand, it shows an entire nation held together by the ideals of Bokononism, a religion that preaches the power of pretense. No one in San Lorenzo is openly Bokononist but every San Lorenzan is actually tied together by a transcendental thread of Bokononism. This make-believe religion based on a make-believe hero holds the nation together and it’s actually the only reason the wretched land is able to stay strong despite its miseries. The ideals of Bokononism might be “shameless lies” to Bokonon himself but to San Lorenzans, they’re something very real because they live their lives by those ideals. This idea is very true to real life as well. Humanity is actually at the mercy of human imagination itself, in the form of socio-political theories, economic models, fiction… religion?

On the other hand, we also see that San Lorezo’s religion and it’s supposed savior, together with the apocalyptic particle ice-nice, becomes the cause of its demise. Towards the beginning of the book, ice-nine is presented as an idea that was just built in Hoenecker’s mind. A figment of his imagination, just a flow of thoughts. By the end of the book, this flow of thoughts materializes and leaves the earth frozen in time. Similarly, Bokononism, still true to its principles, provides thousands of thousands of San Lorenzans the ultimate escape from reality, slaughtering them all.

Vonnegut shows how human “brain architecture” can transform any idea into something concrete. And to have over 6 billion brains equipped with this architecture is nothing short of overwhelming. It’s essentially a weapon that could protect humanity or destroy it. Human imagination itself is at the mercy of human stupidity.