On preferences, opinions, habits, norms, traditions and immutable laws

W e tend to think of laws as things written in books, backed by governments, and enforced by courts. But in our day-to-day lives, some of the most powerful "laws" aren’t laws at all. They’re habits. Or traditions. Or inherited opinions. And yet we follow them as if they were handed down from some sort of higher power. So how does a preference — a personal or cultural choice — evolve into something treated as sacred, untouchable, and binding? Why do certain habits feel as unbreakable as laws? Let’s explore it. 1. The First Step: Path Dependence and Institutional Inertia Sometimes, it starts small. A preference becomes a routine. A routine becomes a rule. This is known as path dependence — the idea that once a certain option is chosen, it becomes easier to stick with it than to change, even if better options exist. Think of the QWERTY keyboard layout . The QWERTY layout became popular with the success of the 1878 Remington No. 2 typewriter, and it’...