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NancyLebovitz comments on 30th Soar workshop - Less Wrong
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Don't mock me, I'm trying to stretch my imagination here.
What about something like shoes? The transition from barefooting to shoes-wearing norms might be prestige-driven (so despite the discomfort of switching TO shoes, it's prestigious) and the norm could be enforced by the discomfort of switching AWAY from shoes, once your feet are adjusted.
Generally, things that encourage one-way society-level transitions that look like "society is addicted to X" might be dangerous. The "things" in question (social practices, memes, consumer products) might look much wierder or more innocent than shoes.
Cultural rachetting, so that people forget they have options, is probably a problem in most cases. It's probably a good thing that people no longer think in terms of murderous feuds between families, though.
I do think rules rachetting-- that it's generally much easier to add rules than to get rid of them, is a very serious problem for human beings.