Causally opaque technologies make individual learning lethal and select for faith in tradition.

Evidence

Now consider what might result if a self-reliant Tukanoan mother decided to drop any seemingly unnecessary steps from the processing of her bitter manioc. She might critically examine the procedure handed down to her from earlier generations and conclude that the goal of the procedure is to remove the bitter taste. She might then experiment with alternative procedures by dropping some of the more labor-intensive or time-consuming steps. She’d find that with a shorter and much less labor-intensive process, she could remove the bitter taste. Adopting this easier protocol, she would have more time for other activities, like caring for her children. Of course, years or decades later her family would begin to develop the symptoms of chronic cyanide poisoning. … Thus, the unwillingness of this mother to take on faith the practices handed down to her from earlier generations would result in sickness and early death for members of her family. Individual learning does not pay here, and intuitions are misleading. The problem is that the steps in this procedure are causally opaque —an individual cannot readily infer their functions, interrelationships, or importance. The causal opacity of many cultural adaptations had a big impact on our psychology. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 323

Categorization

• DEFINE: ‘Causally opaque’ is defined precisely here: steps whose functions, interrelationships, and importance cannot be inferred, making them the key mechanism driving fidelity to tradition.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s conformist-bias/coercion-vulnerability framework: causal opacity is exactly the condition under which deference to the majority’s transmitted practice is the rational default, so age of peak conformist bias matters for exploitation windows. — connects to: Cultural learning dominates when individual learning is costly. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 1107; Learners adopt causally opaque cultural practices through implicit trust in accumulated wisdom — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 376; Learning reduces uncertainty that is what motivated deference to humans — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 1294

Broader Connections

• Learners adopt causally opaque cultural practices through implicit trust in accumulated wisdom #corroborates (0.90) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 376
• Cultural learning dominates when individual learning is costly. #expands (0.82) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 1107
• Learning reduces uncertainty that is what motivated deference to humans #complicates (0.72) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 1294