Had a conversation with a friend yesterday about a case [1] where students at Oxford spent 500 years swearing irreconciliation with a guy from the 1200s as a pa

Had a conversation with a friend yesterday about a case [1] where students at Oxford spent 500 years swearing irreconciliation with a guy from the 1200s as a part of their graduation vows. When it was reviewed in the 1600s, someone suggested removing the clause, but it was turned down. Rules and traditions have reasons, but it is interesting to think about how many we follow all the time without really understanding why. Cultural DNA (traditions, rules, and the 'right way') encode a lot of useful experience - but environment and circumstances change. And sometimes it just picks up weird things along the way. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38710661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38710661