God would be a costly accident: Supernatural beliefs as adaptive

I take up the challenge of why false beliefs are better than 'cautious action policies' (target article, sect. 9) in navigating adaptive problems with asymmetric errors. I then suggest that there are interactions between supernatural beliefs, self-deception, and positive illusions, rendering elements of all such misbeliefs adaptive. Finally, I argue that supernatural beliefs cannot be rejected as adaptive simply because recent experiments are inconclusive. The great costs of religion betray its even greater adaptive benefits--we just have not yet nailed down exactly what they are. doi:10.1017/S0140525X09991245