Re:Some Things I Think
by bmelton on Thursday April 27, 2023 @10:28AM
(#35728654)
Hyperstition is a fun line to tread, but society tends to ostracize those who push back too hard against it.
Many cultural taboos only exist because it is societally convenient to accept them. Others (e.g., the value of money) have a societal mandate.
Haidt has a good bit illustrating the former -- everyone can tell you that a brother exercising extremely safe sex with his sister exactly once while on vacation in France is WRONG, but very few people can illustrate a practical reason WHY it is. People conjure up reasons why that aren't just borne of their innate revulsion to the idea.
As to the latter, the value of money is probably beyond hyperstition in that is was not born merely of belief, but of contract. If I agree that this paper bill is worth roughly one fifth of that chicken, which is worth perhaps one of these loaves of bread, then we have collectively agreed to the 'stition, and it is not merely borne of that belief, but of that compact. But others who inherit the contract without having formed the agreement, or who watch as the government prints those bills out of thin air, it can certainly feel less tethered to "what I have agreed to" and more "this is all just make believe!"
Many cultural taboos only exist because it is societally convenient to accept them. Others (e.g., the value of money) have a societal mandate.
Haidt has a good bit illustrating the former -- everyone can tell you that a brother exercising extremely safe sex with his sister exactly once while on vacation in France is WRONG, but very few people can illustrate a practical reason WHY it is. People conjure up reasons why that aren't just borne of their innate revulsion to the idea.
As to the latter, the value of money is probably beyond hyperstition in that is was not born merely of belief, but of contract. If I agree that this paper bill is worth roughly one fifth of that chicken, which is worth perhaps one of these loaves of bread, then we have collectively agreed to the 'stition, and it is not merely borne of that belief, but of that compact. But others who inherit the contract without having formed the agreement, or who watch as the government prints those bills out of thin air, it can certainly feel less tethered to "what I have agreed to" and more "this is all just make believe!"