Talking Non-Conformism with Carlos
Here’s a deep dive into You Will Not Stampede Me: Essays on Non-Conformism, with my dear friend Carlos Carvalho, head of the Salem Center for Policy at the University of Texas.
If non-conformism is so great, why is conformism the norm? Part of the answer is that non-conformism remains a mixed bag of common sense and kookiness. The deeper answer, though, is that conformism was much more functional in our ancestral environment than in the anonymous world of today.
> conformism was much more functional in our ancestral environment than in the anonymous world of today.
Intellectual independence is a moral absolute of man facing the universe. Conformism did not increase food, shelter, clothing and mortality in tribal cultures. It is always dysfunctional for mans life by a rational standard.
It occurs to me that both conformism and non-conformism are amusingly self-consistent when conformists are the simple majority. 'Why should you be conformist? Well, most people are!' 'Why should you be non-conformist? Well, most people aren't!'