And Robin answers the question by proposing we humans have adopted narrative styles that signal to us that the Rebels are good and the Empire is evil. Hollywood, the Bible, and other powerful and prestigious media channels gave us and reinforce these ancient narratives every day; we’re almost hard-wired for them. What if we were more skeptical?
Robin offers us as way to assign a level of skepticism towards specific cultural expressions (he calls these “variants”) based on three tests.
Is the variant ancient AND has it persisted through reinforcing social pressure? If Yes, then it’s possible that the least amount of skepticism required before adopting the variant.
A group of people (society, family, community, etc.) are NOT required to adopt the variant for it persist. If a group of people are not required to adopt the variant, then it’s possible you’ll need more skepticism than test 1.
Is the variant modern AND present in a winning culture — a culture that’s spread it’s influence across the world over massive amounts of time? If Yes, then it’s possible you’ll deploy the most skepticism.
Using the idea from “Star Wars” that the Rebels are “good” and therefore must overcome all odds and overthrow the Empire “evil” we arrive at a variant — “good must triumph over evil”, I’ll refer to that as “good v evil.” Let’s go to the tests.
Is “good v evil” an ancient idea AND has it persisted through reinforcing social pressure? Yes. This is an idea from ancient times, and it’s reinforced in political, religious, and other forms of rhetoric by influencers, mainstream media, clergy, and others. TEST 1 = PASS.
A group of people are NOT required to adopt the variant “good v evil” for it to persist. We fail that test because groups of people must adopt the idea for it to persist. TEST 2 = FAIL.
Is the variant “good v evil” a modern invention AND is it present in winning cultures? It’s an ancient idea and therefore does not pass. TEST 3 = FAIL.
Because we passed the first test, I can choose to deploy the least amount of skepticism before deciding to adopt the idea. I can feel better about being less skeptical because ideas that are ancient and have persisted through our existence are likely culturally advantageous ideas. ALSO, If I want to be more rigorous, I can increase my level of skepticism because an ancient reinforced idea that does require group adoption may cause me to be more skeptical — what if we’ve gotten something wrong for a while and just don’t know it yet?
As a takeaway, I tend to be more skeptical of ideas that are “group adopted” or “modern” because they have not been cross-examined enough by time. I prefer my wisdom robust… and robust timeless wisdom is in short supply, which increases its value and makes it easier to adopt — simple.
HT and thanks to Robin Hanson’s blog, Overcoming Bias, for the inspiration.