> all things have a cost Yes, and it's not a simple matter to estimate those costs, let alone any point where a cost reaches the threshold of evolutionary pres

> all things have a cost Yes, and it's not a simple matter to estimate those costs, let alone any point where a cost reaches the threshold of evolutionary pressure. There are plenty of examples in nature of things that are inefficient and suboptimal but the pressure to remove them is lacking. Or, there is an unseen benefit to things that seem to be "bad" that 21st century humans haven't figured out yet. In theory, everything has a cost, just as the First Law of thermodynamics suggests that energy is conserved, even though in the real world neither energy or mass are conserved, making it much more complicated if not impractical to make predictions from alone. On the flip side, all matter has the added factor (substituting cost) of gravitation, which one might assume to always matter to some degree, yet it's so inconsequential at the molecular level that it's basically not even factored into most chemistry. My point being that whether we are capable to actually determine whether anything is a meaningful cost on a system is dubious. > Taboos and traditions may not _seem_ to have purpose And that could be a result of them actually having no purpose, but consequently having an effect that manages to allow them to survive and propagate. > We evolved from apes; taboos and traditions are just remnants of our collective unconscious, and are just unneeded artifacts we will grow out of as technology and modernity progress. Be careful what you wish for.