However, social norms, aesthetic principles, and scientific paradigms can change. When the cost of cooperation with such a principle rises, due perhaps to mounting evidence that the scientific paradigm is wrong, the level of mutual cooperation will drop. Recall that if the reward value of an ongoing action drops, the reduced reward is the signal that drives the formation of a new action plan. When mutual cooperation with a social norm drops and defection rates rise, the social norm is destined to break down. In science, this is termed a “paradigm shift,” as described by Thomas S. Kuhn in “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Aesthetic laws, as practiced at the peer-to-peer and leadership levels, define and validate the merit of a creation. Aesthetic rules, when they are enforced by credible authorities, become accepted fact. We may even extend this principle to another human creation – morality – and we shall do so next month.