[weberc2]

Most of the irrelevant and harmful stuff was stripped away long ago when it stopped being useful. Most tradition is useful, although the industrial revolution has been cause for reevaluating many, many traditions; even millennia old traditions like (some of the more egregious) gender roles.

[ClumsyPilot]

There are many traditions that survived for thousands of years:

Genital mutilation circumcision, human sacrifice, using poisonous body paints, using lead in water pipes, asbestos, etc.

It often takes a great effort to stop a stupid and harmful tradition.

[weberc2]

Fair enough. The system is statistical; I’m not claiming every harmful tradition is eliminated and tradition is optimal; only that the most harmful traditions are eliminated or minimized (e.g., human sacrifice is only practiced among very primitive civilizations).