Religion

For a long time people thought that gods watching over human actions were necessary for developing societies on a large scale. In a small community where everyone knows each other, it is impossible not to notice uncooperative behavior. But when the number of people increases, it can be more difficult to detect an anti-social attitude. To facilitate cooperation, there was a need for a “surveillance system”, that is, gods. However, collective faith in supernatural and moralizing entities is a consequence of the development of structured civilizations, not its engine, as has long been hypothesized.