One of my growing convictions is that values (either explicit or revealed preference in market/non-market environs) simply don’t matter beyond one big purpose: coalition formation through virtue signaling. Behavior is 99% shaped by imitation of what you see working for others.
Taleb’s example of suitcases on wheels is a good one here. Why it took till the 1960s before somebody thought of putting wheels on suitcases is unclear.
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Speculatively, because prior to the 1960s with the modern airport terminal, traveling had relatively few spaces where rolling your luggage made any sense?
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Possibly. Or people with marble-floored palaces also had servants whose well-being they didn’t have to care about. And bell-carts, which I think predate roller suitcases. But point is, most people probably didn’t go around wishing for wheeled suitcases until they first saw one.
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