TRADITIONALISM AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION, A THREAD

There are countless traditions that at first seem illogical and counterproductive but in reality come with real and practical benefits to the people who faithfully adhere to them.

One example involves the preparation of cassava.

Cassava is poisonous if not prepared right, so Amazonian women spent 1/4 of their time following these complex steps.

But poisoning takes years of eating unsafe cassava it would be difficult to connect the 2 together + since the process was mainstream few ever became poisoned.

Amazonian women had to choose faith in the tradition over their own deduction and critical thinking, to avoid poisoning their children.

This is just one example of where seemingly impractical accumulated practices that humans learn (tradition) produces a survival advantage.

The decision to follow seemingly redundant practices is a unique psychological trait in humans.

Unlike apes who abandon learned practices that don't produce an immediate gain, humans innately follow them, probably because of the hidden survival advantage they may provide.

In fact it seems the reasons humans dominate is not because we are individually intelligent, but because we are so good at learning and remembering what we learned.

This allows us to develop and learn a toolbox of accumulated specialized knowledge that can help us survive.

History is full of examples of seemingly well prepared outsiders struggling to survive in environments where locals have been thriving for centuries, in some cases with significantly less technology.

Accumulated practice, tradition, and wisdom > Critical thinking & deduction

These traditions developed not from one individual, but the accumulation of beneficial innovations discovered by chance, accident, random experimentation to produce a survival advantage to those that adopt it. The more people cooperating and connected the more innovation spreads.

In most cases, the followers of traditions have no idea why they do things they way they do, as the original problem it was meant to fix has long been forgotten.

The causal explanation, if it exists, comes later and in some cases may be totally wrong.

Because of this traditions can often appear pointless or stupid when practiced, with practitioners being unable to defend themselves against criticism. A common occurrence in the modern era.

Quotes from the highly recommended book "Secret of our Success" by Joseph Henrich.