#Tradition and the #LindyEffect are descriptive, not prescriptive, observations.
Things stick around for lots of reasons, good and bad — including, but not limited to: coercion, fear, inertia, ossification, taboo, chance, network effects, market failures, sunk costs…
Lots of wrong ideas, unhealthy habits and abhorrent behaviours are “old”.
Old ≠ good.
(#NaturalisticFallacy, you’re next)
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Why do I trust the literary canon and the classics, then?
- Not just old but considered best by experts (literary critics, historians, artists, philosophers, writers themselves).
- Survived not among a handful of alternatives, but among millions of other books, the vast majority lost and forgotten (ie plenty of variety and competition).
- To an extent, in art “consumed and appreciated by more” correlates with “quality” (by definition, because art should be liked by people).
- Today, definitely not propped by trends, intimidation, inertia, or consumerism (quite the contrary).
