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The World As If - new

by me (how magical thinking made us modern)

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alternative explanation for tribesman behavior: they knew perfectly well what the syllogism implied, but refused to unwrap the "as if"

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which would make them more competent at handling "as if" situations than us, not less

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or at least, their society doesn't need them to unwrap "as if"s as often as ours, so they err on the safe/correct side

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yeah that's how SOME of them read to me - others can't put together the premises but they also haven't practiced