Sometimes not understanding how a practice works is crucial to its survival

Evidence

This example makes a key point: not only do people often not understand what their cultural practices are doing, but sometimes it may even be important that they don’t understand what their practices are doing or how they work. If people came to understand that bird augury or bone divination didn’t actually predict the future, the practice would probably be dropped or people would increasingly ignore ritual findings in favor of their own intuitions. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 349

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the concept of causal opacity as a functional feature, not just a limitation.
• XREF: connects to: Routine practice inevitably closes off possibilities unless inquiry is built into it — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of…, 1511; Acts can seem intentional yet lack conscious reason at the moment; The problem is not ignorance but knowing how to act on what we know — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 783 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Routine practice inevitably closes off possibilities unless inquiry is built into it #qualifies (0.78) — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1511
• Accounting practices involve interpretation and are not straightforwardly performative #corroborates (0.75) — Kean Birch, Rethinking Value in the Bio-economy, 35
• The problem is not ignorance but knowing how to act on what we know #complicates (0.74) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 783
• Acts can seem intentional yet lack conscious reason at the moment #exemplifies (0.72)