A perfect example of a heuristic strategy

In thinking about the strategy of a religion, it is necessary to be aware that most religions have a common ancestry. In much the same way as humans and apes have evolved from some common ancestor in the past, so, many religions have evolved from some common ancient culture.

Most Western religions have evolved from a very ancient civilisation, long since disappeared, that first formed in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The tenets, or codes of law, of that ancient civilisation were passed on by the Hebrews to the Israelites. Expressed in the Jewish religion, they take the form of mitsvot - commandments - that appear in their teaching (Talmud). The best known of the mitzvot is a group of ten commandments known as the Decalogue. (in English they are commonly referred to as The Ten Commandments). This Decalogue is such a perfect example of a successful heuristic strategy that it appears, in slightly modified forms, in all major Western religions.

Most religious accounts describe The Ten Commandments as being given to Moses (by God) during forty days and forty nights that he spent on Mount Sinai contemplating how he might lead his people - the Israelites - after they left Egypt. Although they were in the form of commandments or specific instructions, in fact they consisted mainly of broad principles of conduct.

To see the Ten Commandments in perspective, it is necessary to understand their original purpose. They were a strategy for survival. Moses had to lead his people - which as the religious histories tell us was a large nomadic tribe of some one million people - through a land of hostile communities to find a place to settle (a promised land). When Moses returned from Mount Sinai, he had with him a set of stone tablets that contained ten instructions that he said were the Ten Commandments of God.

Here is a dialogue taken from the CD-ROM "How God Makes God" which explains the logic of those Ten Commandments:

But, what if there is no God? Moses would have had to have written those instructions himself.

Whether they were the work of God or the considered thoughts of Moses, they were a brilliant piece of work: a simple list of ten easily remembered instructions that provided an optimally efficient strategy for survival.

You mean you see the Ten Commandments as a survival strategy?

Of course, that is exactly what the Ten Commandments were. They were designed to ensure that every individual's behaviour was optimal for the survival of the community.

But I thought the Ten Commandments applied only to individual behaviour?

What you have to remember is that Moses would have been more concerned with the survival of his whole nation than with the survival of the individual. Imagine, if you can, Moses up there alone on Mount Sinai. He would have realised that it would be difficult for his nation to survive as a disorganised rabble. There needed to be some sort of internal order. It would be necessary for people to work together and co-operate with each other in order to meet the difficulties of surviving in a hostile world.

How did the Ten Commandments help him do this?

For people to work together there had to be the right atmosphere, where people could have a mutual feeling of trust for each other. Moses would have realised how easy it would be for these harsh conditions to breed dog eat dog attitudes. He would have realised that it would be hopelessly inefficient if everybody distrusted their neighbours and if there were constant quarrelling and fighting between the people.

The Ten Commandments could prevent this?

This would have been Moses's main aim. He had to get people to act in such a way that they could trust one another and help each other to prosper and survive. The Ten Commandments was Moses' heuristic strategy to accomplished this.

Why would he have told the people that these commandments were the word of God?

He would have had the problem of credibility. By claiming that these were the instructions of a supernatural power, who had infinite wisdom, he could avoid the possibility of others doubting his judgement and suggesting alternative strategies, or, perhaps ignoring his instructions altogether.

In those primitive times, there were no printing presses, communication was by word of mouth, so, Moses would have had to work on his ideas to get them into a suitable form to be easily explained. The instructions would have to be short and simple so that they could be remembered easily.

Having pared down the list of important rules to include only the most essential items he then offered these up to the people as the laws of God for which there were the most terrible penalties for anyone breaking them. With plenty of propaganda about the wrath of God the delights of heaven and the miseries of hell it would have been a very brave man who chose to ignore these laws.

So, the Ten Commandments are a contrived set of rules that were designed by man to help a nation survive and prosper?

Designed by God or man, they make a lot of sense.

If the Ten commandments are taken out of the context of religion, they can be seen in a new light that shows them to be a surprisingly complete and efficient survival strategy for a large group of people finding themselves in a foreign and potentially hostile environment. This is explained in another of the dialogues from "How God Makes God":

Can you explain how the Ten Commandments comprise a strategy for survival?

Take the first three Commandments? Have no other God. Do not make graven images. Do not take the name of God in vain. These three rules establish the fact that there is only one authority and this authority has to be treated with great respect. They make it quite clear that this God (and His Word) is the only one to be taken notice of.

The fourth commandment?

Keep the Sabbath holy and don't do anything at all on this day except go to church. This makes sure there is a special day set aside to be used exclusively for going to church and receiving messages from the appointed servants of the religion.

The fifth commandment?

Honour your mother and your father. Remember there were no pension schemes or social services in Moses's time. This arranges for the elderly to be cared for by the family. The commandment would also have the beneficial effect of encouraging older people to keep their wealth and capital within family enterprises, - rather than locking it away as a safeguard against old age and infirmity.

The sixth commandment?

Do not commit murder. This commandment would ensure that the community is a safe place for people to move around freely; greatly enhancing the opportunities for people to be able to collaborate and co-operate with each other.

The seventh commandment?

Do not commit adultery. This preserves the most efficient basic unit of organisation: the family. It would also greatly reduce the possibility of situations for conflict and mistrust arising - which again would be helpful in promoting alliances and co-operation.

The eighth commandment?

Do not steal. This would save people vast amounts of time and effort in having to protect possessions and safeguard their dealings with each other. If people could feel confident that others in the community wouldn't steal from them, they would be more inclined to work with them in collaborative and cooperative associations.

The ninth commandment?

Do not bear false witness against your neighbour. This commandment outlaws deceit and lying. Lies or fabrications of any kind reduce the efficiency of communication. If people could be confident that others always told the truth, co-operation could take place with a far greater speed and efficiency.

The tenth commandment?

Do not covet your neighbour's possessions. Meaning: don't be envious of others. Envy is an insidious emotion that can create havoc in co-operative situations.

The Ten Commandments are an elegantly simple strategy for improving the conditions for the prosperity and survival of a community of people in a hostile and competitive environment. It works on three levels: the individual level; the community level; the world level.

At the individual level, holding such beliefs and abiding by these commandments will be a great advantage because individuals will be trusted by others and not represent any kind of threat - an ideal position for anyone wanting to cooperate or collaborate with others. At the community level, the whole community is more efficient and productive because of the improved conditions for communication and cooperation.. At the world level, the near presence of a community of people, all known to be obeying these commandments, will not be threatening in any way. This will reduce the likelihood of hostilities and increase the chances of inter community trade.

The Ten Commandments are typical of the kind of strategies that come out of Game Theory, they are not intuitive or obvious. Just like the prisoner's dilemma, the individual's best play is not the obvious one. It may seem to be advantageous for an individual to murder, lie, cheat or steal when a suitable opportunity for personal gain arises and where detection or reciprocation is unlikely. But, if everyone did this everyone would be much worse off.

What makes heuristic strategies particularly effective is that they are not dependent upon rational decision making. Rules are followed scrupulously and blindly, whatever the circumstances. People do not have to decide to be honest and trustworthy, it is part of a belief system that says in the short term it may seem okay to disregard the rules, but, in the long term it works out best if you always obey them.

Significantly, it is constantly stressed in most religions that God and the Word of God are synonymous: God is the Word and the Word is God. Stressed also is the importance of having faith: faith in God, which implies having faith in the Word. In other words, religions stress the importance of having faith in the particular heuristic strategy adopted by the religion.

Because these commandments create conditions within a community that are excellent for the creation of wealth, and because wealth can take so many forms, the Ten Commandments can help a nation to not only survive and prosper but also to grow rich and powerful. The strategy is so far sighted it would seem beyond the ingenuity of a mere mortal. It is a work of perfection. But, the end products of most evolutionary processes often result in a perfection of one form or another.