I might just be suffering from availability bias since I was reading about the French Revolution right before I read the quote, but I was thinking that so much of what we do that is non-rational (not based on explicit reasoning or weighing of evidence) could be adapted to our social environment through memetic evolution. If this was the case, dropping norms of behavior or social institutions simply because we don’t have sufficient rational justification for them might prove disastrous.
Edmund Burke added lustre to an already high reputation with his Reflections on the Revolution in France published in 1790, in which he predicted that the revolution would lead to terrible disorder and, in time, a military coup.
The general principles that he relied on for his successful prediction are close to what you suggest. Indeed your question “Does this sound crazy or am I making sense?” jars somewhat. Your position, Burkean Conservatism, is highly controversial, but the controversy is all the fiercer because Burkean Conservatism is acknowledged to be a respectable position on matters of great importance.
Burkean conservatism seems to be different in critical ways from Phil Goetz’s “Reason as memetic immune system disorder”, in ways I can’t quite articulate yet. Or at least, this is another case of, “Well, [Burke], it would have been a lot more convincing if you said it that way!” and another case of me getting angry because of how bad people are at explaining themselves.
Also, I don’t think Burke would have liked the view of dominant memes as viruses we’ve learned immunity from (even after adjusting for the negative connotations of “virus”, and Burke not being alive while the term was in common use in English).
It makes a certain sense. On the other hand, a sufficiently powerful rationalist should have some sense of what works well in our social environment, and thus shouldn’t be reflexively ignored.
True, which is why I am very uncertain about the quote or my first thoughts about it. Also, I had a vague picture in my mind of an entire society going through the valley of bad rationality at the same time. Needless to say, that would be a very scary (and thankfully very improbable) possible future.
I might just be suffering from availability bias since I was reading about the French Revolution right before I read the quote, but I was thinking that so much of what we do that is non-rational (not based on explicit reasoning or weighing of evidence) could be adapted to our social environment through memetic evolution. If this was the case, dropping norms of behavior or social institutions simply because we don’t have sufficient rational justification for them might prove disastrous.
Does this sound crazy or am I making sense?
Edmund Burke added lustre to an already high reputation with his Reflections on the Revolution in France published in 1790, in which he predicted that the revolution would lead to terrible disorder and, in time, a military coup.
The general principles that he relied on for his successful prediction are close to what you suggest. Indeed your question “Does this sound crazy or am I making sense?” jars somewhat. Your position, Burkean Conservatism, is highly controversial, but the controversy is all the fiercer because Burkean Conservatism is acknowledged to be a respectable position on matters of great importance.
Burkean conservatism seems to be different in critical ways from Phil Goetz’s “Reason as memetic immune system disorder”, in ways I can’t quite articulate yet. Or at least, this is another case of, “Well, [Burke], it would have been a lot more convincing if you said it that way!” and another case of me getting angry because of how bad people are at explaining themselves.
Also, I don’t think Burke would have liked the view of dominant memes as viruses we’ve learned immunity from (even after adjusting for the negative connotations of “virus”, and Burke not being alive while the term was in common use in English).
No, that makes sense—PhilGoetz wrote a post on the theme some time back.
Thanks for the link.
It makes a certain sense. On the other hand, a sufficiently powerful rationalist should have some sense of what works well in our social environment, and thus shouldn’t be reflexively ignored.
True, which is why I am very uncertain about the quote or my first thoughts about it. Also, I had a vague picture in my mind of an entire society going through the valley of bad rationality at the same time. Needless to say, that would be a very scary (and thankfully very improbable) possible future.