The sacred might be things or norms that have been recognised as being very vulnerable to goodharting, so their sacredness is a protection mechanism. (But this goodharting would probably have to harm the priestly/ruler class to be enshrined as norms, or maybe harm the folk if its enshrined as folk wisdom.
- What kind of things make something vulnerable to goodharting? Collapsing multiple distinct dimensions of value (e.g. bad ESG frameworks). Other forms of legibility? Seeing like a state
How does this fit in with ritual purity motivations fot sacredness?
How does this fit in with girards notion of the sacred as norms made to prevent spirals of reciprocal violence?
Optimising the sacred: Ming Dynasty karma scores Those turnable rollers full of sutras. See also Infinite Ethics. Christians probs did this stuff But this optimising somehow shows its own unnecessariness. Why is that? Maybe just BC it’s unmoored and gets absurd, like imaginary swords that can cut anything and shields that can stop anything. Or power creep in shounen. Does xianxia have power creep?
If you adopt old dogs, you will get to own more dogs over your lifetime without abandoning any dogs.