Cultural fluidity

Did ya see the title of this blog? You know it's going to be another rant about philosophical shit when it has smart sounding title like that, eh?

I don't think religions invent the moral messages embedded in their holy books, I think they preserve the moral views felt by the population at the time they were written. For example, I don't think Islam invented misogyny or crimes for apostasy, instead I suspect these were strongly held, non controversial views that were held by many people at the time.

The claim that religions help preserve culture is useful to an historian because it means a religion can act as a time machine to view a past culture. Even though religions evolve over time, they don't evolve fast enough to match the pace of technology now.

Religions are only a symptom of our flawed psychology, not the cause of it. So unsurprisingly, there are many other cultural norms that also cling us to certain ways of behaving. Our simple notions of justice, privacy, and property are also largely products of cultural norms that are preventing us from adapting to the speed of technology. The best example that illustrates this is music on YouTube. The law is a complicated mess of rules stating when you can upload a song, edit a song to make it a parody, or just upload a snippet of a song. In this case capitalism is the religion that has preserved our way of thinking.

I previously thought that the internet would be a facilitator in breaking down these cultural barriers. I thought the arbitrary worship of stereotypes, gender roles, traditions and even the nature of the 9-5 working week would all be highlighted and challenged by a new generation of people empowered and informed by the internet. I now have a much more pessimistic view. I think the internet can also be used as a echo chamber that pumps confirmation bias with 21st century efficiency. Sadly this means that cultural barriers can be reinforced with a thick layer of emotion. I can easily imagine a child growing up believing whole heatedly that she has the right to privacy in every meaning of the word, preventing her from rationally embracing the problems and benefits associated with data mining.

It's worth mentioning that in the book I'm reading now "homo deos", the author mentions that cultures are intrinsically turbulent. Meaning that they don't change just due to environmental effects, but also change due to inevitable self contradictions. While I think this is definitely true and very useful, I still think this form of natural cultural change can be counter balanced by the power of the internet, and can leave us stuck in some sub optimal condition.

The best case scenario is to have complete cultural fluidity. Where the traditions of one generation are quickly and easily broken down and replaced with other cultural norms of the following generation that are more in sync with the technology of the time.