40. Reproducing Unwritten Models

Bronowski[1]: 

When you have no written language […] then you must have a precise ceremonial which fixes the sequence of operations so that they are exact and memorable. 

Social-semiotic rituals are a means of providing copying fidelity in the reproduction of a community’s model of the perceivable, generation after generation, when there is no durable expression modality. The ordered structure of ritual maintains the stability of the socio-semiotic lineage: both the semiotic model and social system it organises. 

Participation in the meaning-making of a ritual is selection of the meanings being expressed. Participation also raises the value of the meanings being expressed for both participants and observers, thereby increasing the probability that it will be re-expressed in the future by increasing the motivation to do so.[2]

Footnotes:

[1] The Ascent of Man episode 4: The Hidden Structure 

[2] Compare the bee dance (see Chapter 4), where increasing participation in the most vigorous of the variant dances adds value to meaning.

ChatGPT revised:

Ritual as High-Fidelity Transmission

Bronowski observes:

“When you have no written language […] then you must have a precise ceremonial which fixes the sequence of operations so that they are exact and memorable.”[1]

In the absence of durable expression modalities, social-semiotic rituals function as mechanisms for maintaining copying fidelity in the transmission of a community’s model of the perceivable world. Ritual provides an ordered structure that stabilises both the semiotic model and the social system it organises, sustaining the socio-semiotic lineage across generations.

To participate in the meaning-making of a ritual is to select and affirm the meanings it expresses. Participation also increases the value of those meanings — for both participants and observers — thereby raising the probability of their future reproduction by strengthening the motivation to re-enact them.[2]