Could you give some examples of traditions that an average American follows which are beneficial and would be hard to explain? I honestly couldn't come up with anything...
How about the entire idea of economic growth?
It made perfect sense to strive for increases in GDP during the 19th and 20th centuries, where economic gains directly correlated with improvements in material wealth and a better quality of life.
Now, I don't think anyone really understands why we're still doing it.
Do you mean consumerism? I don't think that one fits either as it's something people choose to do because it provides satisfaction.
As a society, we measure, celebrate and strive to achieve economic growth (in terms of increased per capita GDP. inflation-adjusted). People do this on an individual as well as broader group level.
In the past, the push for growth was an effective solution to the very real problem of widespread absolute poverty caused by the inability to provide sufficient consumer goods to the broader population.
In more recent times, pushing for economic growth seems to be causing more problems than it solves. Yet, we still do it anyway because that's what we've "always" done (at least, since the start of the industrial revolution).
I agree that you can easily find abstract ideas people hold true about the world which would require serious re-education in order for the opinions to change.
I don't mean to nitpick, but on the off chance you share the same views as Richard Feynmann on this matter, please understand that tooth brushing is not a cargo cult behaviour!
People who do not brush and floss regularly undergo extreme pain (physical or financial) later in life and genuinely repulse others whenever they open their mouth to speak.
However, people have been cleaning teeth for thousands of years. My (naive) belief is that people associated the procedure with good health but weren't able to explain why it works. It was mostly tradition or good habit passed on through generations. Citing Wikipedia[1]:
> The Indian method of using wood for brushing was presented by the Chinese Monk Yijing (635–713 CE) when he described the rules for monks in his book:
> Every day in the morning, a monk must chew a piece of tooth wood to brush his teeth and scrape his tongue, and this must be done in the proper way. Only after one has washed one's hands and mouth may one make salutations. Otherwise both the saluter and the saluted are at fault.
Thank God for that!
>My (naive) belief is that people associated the procedure with good health but weren't able to explain why it works.
Also a naive assumption, but I suspect our ancestors understood completely that bad dental hygiene lead to both unpleasant smells and toothache. People are very good at avoiding both disgusting stimuli and pain!
But I can tell you what I meant by tradition: basically everything you did not explicitly decide about in your life and that you mostly do like everybody else does and did before you. Even wearing socks for example or hard soled shoes - you can easily find people these days that go against these. And you can think about it yourself. Is the barefoot movement right? Seems healthier for your foot. But how about one accident like a cut or penetration of the very thin and soft or even non existent sole?
Another habit or practice is buying single use water bottles wherever they go or drinks and food on road trips as if it’s not super easy to bring food or water. Yes, in some cases buying is more efficient but definitely not all cases and yet some people never bring food/water.