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Question Time: Dynamism and the Culture War
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Question Time: Dynamism and the Culture War

In which I hope Leslie gets her money's worth...

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Virginia Postrel
Mar 12, 2023
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Question Time: Dynamism and the Culture War
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I was hoping for an easy question about what’s on my loom or what I think of gas stoves, but Leslie kicks off the Question Time feature for paid subscribers with a toughie:

At the risk of being irksome, I’d like to know your thoughts on the culture war, in particular, if it’s better to ignore it than to resist it in terms of having a dynamist mindset.

There’s a lot going on in this short question, so this answer will necessarily be inadequate. I’m guessing that Leslie’s question is inspired in part by this September post, which concludes that “Culture is just as complex, dynamic, and unpredictable as science, technology, or markets—and just as driven by discontent.” One big difference between culture and these other systems is that everyone makes decisions that contribute to the evolution of culture and everyone has opinions about cultural matters. The same is true, to only a slightly lesser extent, for markets.

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