I think most people don’t question traditions sufficiently
I’m not sure how this follows from your text, especially given the Cassava root example.
In most cultures, the traditional treatment of acute respiratory tract infections is done via given chicken bone broth. The studies we have suggest that this is more effective than what mainstream medicine has to offer for most acute respiratory tract infections (even when of course it’s not studied well enough to draw definite conclusions).
Even if you take something like no sex before marriage, evaluating it is hard. We do see high divorce rates and low childbirth which both seem to be societal problems.
It doesn’t follow from the text, it’s just based on my anecdotal experience. I could very well be wrong.
For the no sex before marriage, I’m not convinced the effects you describe are downstream of dismantling that tradition. For divorse, why not downstream of more independence and decreased stigma? For low childbirth, why not downstream of contraception and changed economic conditions? I also disagree that low childbirth rate is a problem, but that’s a separate question.
Generally, understanding cause and effect of dismantling tradition is hard. That’s what the Cassava root example demonstrates.
It doesn’t follow from the text, it’s just based on my anecdotal experience.
It’s not clear to me how anecdotal experience would form a basis for that. Anecdotal experience can tell you that you are valuing tradition less then the average person, but not really whether most of your experiences of getting rid of tradition have complex unforeseen negative experiences that are more like getting rid of Cassava root prep.
You can question a tradition without getting rid of it.
To be more concrete, what I have in mind are things like religious traditions (e.g. “light a candle in the church”) or superstitions (e.g. “don’t sing at the table because you’ll marry a gypsy”) or even culinary traditions that differ between cultures. Occasionally people in my family have insisted on such things after I explicitly question them and despite evidence disproving them.
Religion is a complex topic and is a tradition that does provide benefits like community cohesion. If you do accept that you want to pursue those goals candles are a useful tool which is why the secular solstice that we rationalist have uses candles.
It might not be your taste but probably it’s just something we you lack the understanding of the value it provides.
Explicitly questioning things you don’t understand like Cassava root treatment does not allow you do understand all their benefits.
I’m not sure how this follows from your text, especially given the Cassava root example.
In most cultures, the traditional treatment of acute respiratory tract infections is done via given chicken bone broth. The studies we have suggest that this is more effective than what mainstream medicine has to offer for most acute respiratory tract infections (even when of course it’s not studied well enough to draw definite conclusions).
Even in the West there’s still the cultural memory for that so the relevant review was titled Were Our Grandmothers Right? Soup as Medicine—A Systematic Review of Preliminary Evidence for Managing Acute Respiratory Tract Infections. That’s the kind of thing you expect to see if most people don’t value traditions enough, not that people don’t question them enough.
Even if you take something like no sex before marriage, evaluating it is hard. We do see high divorce rates and low childbirth which both seem to be societal problems.
It doesn’t follow from the text, it’s just based on my anecdotal experience. I could very well be wrong.
For the no sex before marriage, I’m not convinced the effects you describe are downstream of dismantling that tradition. For divorse, why not downstream of more independence and decreased stigma? For low childbirth, why not downstream of contraception and changed economic conditions? I also disagree that low childbirth rate is a problem, but that’s a separate question.
Anyway, I get your general point.
Generally, understanding cause and effect of dismantling tradition is hard. That’s what the Cassava root example demonstrates.
It’s not clear to me how anecdotal experience would form a basis for that. Anecdotal experience can tell you that you are valuing tradition less then the average person, but not really whether most of your experiences of getting rid of tradition have complex unforeseen negative experiences that are more like getting rid of Cassava root prep.
You can question a tradition without getting rid of it.
To be more concrete, what I have in mind are things like religious traditions (e.g. “light a candle in the church”) or superstitions (e.g. “don’t sing at the table because you’ll marry a gypsy”) or even culinary traditions that differ between cultures. Occasionally people in my family have insisted on such things after I explicitly question them and despite evidence disproving them.
Religion is a complex topic and is a tradition that does provide benefits like community cohesion. If you do accept that you want to pursue those goals candles are a useful tool which is why the secular solstice that we rationalist have uses candles.
It might not be your taste but probably it’s just something we you lack the understanding of the value it provides.
Explicitly questioning things you don’t understand like Cassava root treatment does not allow you do understand all their benefits.