For example, in ancient Greece it would have been taboo to say that women should have the same political rights as men.
Would it have been taboo? Or would people have just laughed at you? (Paul Graham said, e.g.: “[O]bviously false statements might be treated as jokes, or at worst as evidence of insanity, but they are not likely to make anyone mad. The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed.” Also relevant: “I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand. That’s where you’ll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them.”)
Investigating taboos is the harder problem, so if you solve that, then that’s probably sufficient.
Would it have been taboo? Or would people have just laughed at you? (Paul Graham said, e.g.: “[O]bviously false statements might be treated as jokes, or at worst as evidence of insanity, but they are not likely to make anyone mad. The statements that make people mad are the ones they worry might be believed.” Also relevant: “I suspect the biggest source of moral taboos will turn out to be power struggles in which one side only barely has the upper hand. That’s where you’ll find a group powerful enough to enforce taboos, but weak enough to need them.”)
Investigating taboos is the harder problem, so if you solve that, then that’s probably sufficient.
Yeah, good point. I changed it to “in America in 1850 it would have been taboo to say that there is nothing wrong with interracial relationships.”