Man wants his life to make sense - but he also wants it to feel less out-of-control than it appears for others.
As a result we sadly allow require gifted people to wear out their imagination while drawing within the requisite lines.
In other words …
Over the last 100 years
Things changed.
Humanity pivoted hard. Science achieved massive user acquisition, while Religion’s DAUs dropped 70%. Bonus: global population scaled 4x — a captive audience with no exit strategy.
- a16z
Science stepped up: significant market share penetration.
Religion suffered: significant market share erosion.
Meanwhile global population increased 300%.
Religious belief decayed as Highly intelligent people bravely and iteratively Questioned life without wishful thinking.
For these agnostic or atheist people, if a simpler and non-religious explanation can be found then the idea of God is logically unnecessary.
If we stop here I ain’t mad at that; religion’s value is in its explanatory power. So if you have a simpler way of understanding something I’m all for it.
But some things can’t be explained.
A myth can only work when it is thought to be truth.
-Alan Watts
There is no counterfactual proof that rules out God’s existence.
There’s nothing that definitively proves there is a God either.
Therefore in aggregate, religion is based on belief rather than empirical verification.
But at the unit-level it gets interesting.
Juliane Koepcke’s 10,000-Foot Fall (1971)
At age 17, she fell from almost 2 miles up after her plane exploded over the Amazon, killing all 92 people onboard, including her mom. Juliane went on to survive for 11 days all alone in the jungle, before her rescue. She is now 71 years old and a renowned bat conservationist in the Peruvian Amazon.
Wesley Autrey, the “Subway Superman” (2007)
In New York City, a 50‑year‑old construction worker and Navy veteran, jumped onto subway tracks to shield a man having a seizure from an oncoming train. He left his two daughters on the platform, aged 4 and 6 to save the man. He is still alive and living in NYC. Over the years he has been studied by neuroscientists to learn more about instinctive altruism.
Deputy Jon Holt, Virginia (2021)
Holt lifted an overturned 4,500lb. SUV off a trapped woman’s head after an accident. The woman’s 5-year old was screaming nearby, and Holt acted immediately, straining to free her before paramedics arrived. Reports confirmed that Holt braced his shoulder under the SUV’s door frame, using sheer physical effort to raise it.
Three months earlier he saved two people from a burning building.
As of 2025, he continues to serve with the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia.
Somethings can’t always be explained.
Counterfactual bursts of power, while rare, occur under extreme emotional and biological stress.
Usually to save another person’s life.
Do things that don’t scale.
