Not only, against neophilia, it is the oldest and most archaic practices, habits, and methods that -conditional on having survived – should last the longest; but the most unexplainable and irrational ones will do best. The more unexplainable, the more robust. The irrational is indestructible.
[All comments that do not get the “conditional on having survived” will be deleted. Hint: robustness and Lindy effects.]
Three categories of people: those who live hand to mouth; those who worry about something other than the next meal; and those who do not understand the difference.
The most interesting and rewarding actions are the ones with the smallest amount of justification.
Manual laborers seem happier with a ham and cheese baguette than businessmen with a Michelin 3 star meal.
The point is that people would have a nice hidden garden even if nobody visited it (a riad a closed, cloistered garden, like DSK’s); but would they drive a very expensive sportscar in NYC if nobody watched them?
(it is beyond Veblen, status, etc., but about modernistic v/s natural objects)