Matrix Thinking: An Adaptation at the Foundation of Human Science, Religion, and Art

Abstract

Intrigued by Robinson and Southgate's 2010 work on "entering a semiotic matrix," we expand their model to include the juxtaposition of all signs, symbols, and mental categories, and to explore the underpinnings of creativity in science, religion, and art. We rely on an interdisciplinary review of human sentience in archaeology, evolutionary biology, the cognitive science of religion, and literature, and speculate on the development of sentience in response to strong selection pressure on the hominin evolutionary line, leaving us the "lone survivors" of complex, multiple lines of physical and cultural evolution. What we call Matrix Thinking-the creative driver of human sentience-has important cognitive and intellectual features, but also equally important characteristics traced to our intense sociability and use of emotionality in vetting rational models. Scientist, theologian, and artist create new cultural knowledge within a social context even if alone. They are rewarded by emotional validation from group members, and guided by the ever present question, "Does it feel right?"

The Human Hearth and the Dawn of Morality

“…The Matrix Thinking approach (Rappaport and Corbally ) was used at several junctures and in several ways, in developing this hypothesis about the first rudimentary moral systems arising in Homo erectus .…”

Evolution of Religious Capacity in the Genus Homo: Trait Complexity in Action Through Compassion

“…One can see how these processes are just as important for scientific modeling and artistic creativity, as they are for decision making on issues related to moral and religious questions (cf. Rappaport and Corbally ; ).…”

“…Glimcher ends by noting, “what is important is that the two classes of models are now really beginning to fit together” (2014, 689). This is important for those of us trying to understand the similarities in decision making and modeling in religious, scientific, and artistic contexts (Rappaport and Corbally, ; ). What we gain from Glimcher and the colleagues he cites is insight that different types of decision making use a basic computational process.…”

Existentialist Literature, Cognitive Science of Religion, and the Scientification of Religion

“…The first article in this issue is on the early evolution of human morality , by anthropologist Margaret Boone Rappaport and astronomer Christopher Corbally, “proposing a context for the first rudimentary hominin moral systems.” This follows up on ideas published previously in Zygon (Rappaport and Corbally ), and draws on arguments by Italian colleague Ivan Colagè ().…”