Interesting article by Dawkins. I read the article because I thought it would attempt to answer that question -- what the purpose of religion was. What evolutionary advantage does belief in a religion give us? But it doesn't really answer that question. A friend of mine pointed out that it doesn't answer the question of the title so much as makes you think about the way we ask ourselves these questions. I like how Dawkins uses computer viruses as an analogy for religion.

On another religious note: _Cheap Complex Devices_. I've been meaning to write about this book because I found it so fascinating. You probably don't want to read any more if you intend to read the book because I don't want to spoil it for you. But I was really excited about the book when I got it and read the cover. I even read the forward and part of the intro before I read the story (I always do that afterwards so I don't know too much going in). The meta story about the story is great in and of itself. But it's not what the forward makes you believe it is -- you get that much before you finish the story, but apart from the disappointment in that, it was still a fabulous read. An interesting and complex intermingling of sexual thoughts, religious thoughts, and computer thoughts -- specifically, system level functioning. What is it about the these basest of things that seem to inextricably combined? Sex and religion have been intertwined for as long as humans have been around. Sex has an obvious evolutionary role, and so does religion or it wouldn't still exist. Is technology the next evolutionary step? As base and as fundamental as sex and god? Or is the mix more cultural -- that these things are so pervasive now and so personal that writing about one leads to writing about the other? I think it's both. I've been meaning to research this topic more...will write more when I do.