Most things that we and the people around us do constantly... have come to seem so natural and inevitable that merely to pose the question, 'Why are we doing this?' can strike us as perplexing - and also, perhaps, a little unsettling. On general principle, it is a good idea to challenge ourselves in this way about anything we have come to take for granted; the more habitual, the more valuable this line of inquiry.

-Alfie Kohn, "Punished By Rewards"

I am in the process of working through these delicious posts so apologies in advance if my comments are redundant.

Perhaps group membership of a mutually supportive tribe has the greatest value (for example from both a psychological and survival perspective). If this is the goal, what is the most rational course of action? Will a rational person inevitably run into problems where the tool they are using to solve their problems becomes their primary source of problems?

I like this site for the very reason that it represents a community where my natural problem solving inclinations are not compromising my sense of being similar to those I interact with. But as with all communities I step with trepidation for fear of violating a social taboo which may be rationalised but is not reasonable (belief as attire). If we choose to be irrational because rationally we have decided it is the most rational course of action are we still rational?