The important distinction here is between “does this provide any value” and “does this provide the most value it could, per learning-hour”.
A piece of literature, or a founding myth, can in principle provide shared cultural context, which makes interfacing with other people easier. But, first, the fact that it could provide cultural context doesn’t mean that it is doing that. And, second, being-shared-culture is a property that anything can have, by being common enough, including things that already provided value in a different way. And third—things that are independently valuable tend to do a better job of being-shared-context.
My school made everyone read The Great Gatsby. Never once in my life did I ever encounter a reference to it, or make a reference to it, or even remember that it existed at all until I just now queried my memory for “books that seemed kinda pointless to have read”.
By contrast, I’ve heard and made a fair number of references to HPMoR—because the people around me have read it, and because it is actually optimized for having lessons and analogies worth referring to.
George Washington and the American Civic Religion falls somewhere in between. It’s not Great Gatsby-level pointless, but it’s still conspicuously unoptimized.
Part of teaching people about George Washington is teaching people that the US consitution is more then a piece of paper but sacred. Shared understanding of the US constitution as sacred does help with coordination.
The problem with optimizing teaching sacredness is that it in itself makes the teaching less sacred.
The problem with optimizing teaching sacredness is that it in itself makes the teaching less sacred.
No, perceived sacredness isn’t only a byproduct; it’s something that’s actually pretty easy to optimize for directly. See for example Petrov Day or Winter Solstice.
The important distinction here is between “does this provide any value” and “does this provide the most value it could, per learning-hour”.
A piece of literature, or a founding myth, can in principle provide shared cultural context, which makes interfacing with other people easier. But, first, the fact that it could provide cultural context doesn’t mean that it is doing that. And, second, being-shared-culture is a property that anything can have, by being common enough, including things that already provided value in a different way. And third—things that are independently valuable tend to do a better job of being-shared-context.
My school made everyone read The Great Gatsby. Never once in my life did I ever encounter a reference to it, or make a reference to it, or even remember that it existed at all until I just now queried my memory for “books that seemed kinda pointless to have read”.
By contrast, I’ve heard and made a fair number of references to HPMoR—because the people around me have read it, and because it is actually optimized for having lessons and analogies worth referring to.
George Washington and the American Civic Religion falls somewhere in between. It’s not Great Gatsby-level pointless, but it’s still conspicuously unoptimized.
Part of teaching people about George Washington is teaching people that the US consitution is more then a piece of paper but sacred. Shared understanding of the US constitution as sacred does help with coordination.
The problem with optimizing teaching sacredness is that it in itself makes the teaching less sacred.
No, perceived sacredness isn’t only a byproduct; it’s something that’s actually pretty easy to optimize for directly. See for example Petrov Day or Winter Solstice.