The (Most) Algorithmic Animal
Unknowable Causal Structures in the Information Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.23612Keywords:
transparency, sustainability, social coherence, ritualAbstract
Rituals are a means of regulation – they are a means for maintaining coherence and attaining long-term goals, including social coherence. But does their efficacy depend entirely, or at all, on their opacity? In this requested commentary on Harvey Whitehouse’s new book, The Ritual Animal, I discuss the utility of costly rituals in an evolutionary context, and suggest that causal opacity is only one, potentially substitutable cost. I relate this to the urgent topical concerns of polarization and of regulating sustainability globally.
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