You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

djcb comments on A few questions on International Rationality - Less Wrong Discussion

15 Post author: Locke 30 April 2012 10:27PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (86)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: djcb 01 May 2012 04:41:53PM 5 points [-]

If we take Religion as any indication of irrationality then America should be one of the least rational countries in the world.

There are parts in Europe where there are many more non-believers, but those are not necessarily more rational. To a large extent it is environment, parents, friends etc. that determine religiosity or lack thereof. It seems that when people are gradually getting more rational, religion is not the first thing that gets thrown out the window. I notice that superstition, medical quakery and various supernatural beliefs are alive and well in secular Europe.

It'd be great if there were some survey comparing the degree to which such ideas flourish in different parts of the world.