Tradition as Adaptive Evidence

Updated: 2025.10.10 11D ago 1 sources
When you’re uncertain which values best support long‑run success, treat the survival of traditions as evidence of adaptive fitness and be cautious about dismantling them. Pursuing moral ideals that reduce group adaptiveness can select your values out of the future. — This reframes culture‑war reforms by imposing an evolutionary and demographic constraint—moral change must pass the survival test, not just the righteousness test.

Sources

Beware Moral Confidence
Robin Hanson 2025.10.10 100% relevant
Hanson’s claim: 'practices existing is more evidence that they are adaptive' and that ignoring adaptiveness means 'your descendants may just disappear.'
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