Memory without recall showed us how meaning persists structurally: some bindings survive because they remain available for future coordination, some fade, some lose rebindability. But survival is not uniform. Some bindings endure far longer, and with far more force, than others. Why?
The answer lies in tradition.
Tradition as Frozen Modulation
Tradition is not belief. It is not intention. It is not authority. It is a structural property of semiotic systems: frozen modulation.
When bindings accumulate in configurations that constrain future bindings, they gain a form of temporal privilege. They survive not because anyone venerates them, but because they are embedded in the patterns that determine what is possible next.
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A procedural rule in a bureaucratic system persists not because it is written on parchment, but because its absence would destabilise future coordination.
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A ritual survives not because participants understand its origin, but because its omission would render subsequent actions unintelligible.
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A habit survives not because it is remembered, but because it shapes the availability of subsequent behaviours.
Tradition is the sediment of constraints. It is frozen because it is embedded in the structure that cannot easily shift.
Temporal Privilege vs Legitimacy
This explains a subtle but important asymmetry: temporal privilege is not the same as legitimacy.
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Temporal privilege: some bindings persist because the system itself enforces their continuation.
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Legitimacy: some bindings are culturally or morally sanctioned as “correct” or “authoritative.”
A binding can be temporally privileged even if it is false, inefficient, or undesirable. Its survival depends on structural entanglement, redundancy, or network effects — not on veracity or moral approval.
Consider common examples:
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A law that no longer matches current social needs but still governs because removing it destabilises the legal network.
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A procedural step in an organisation that persists despite being obsolete.
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A social custom whose original purpose is forgotten, yet still constrains behaviour.
The system does not care about truth or justification. It only “remembers” what cannot be unbound without cost.
“We’ve Always Done It This Way”
The phrase is not a lament about stubbornness. It is a description of structural fact.
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The survival of certain bindings does not require intentional transmission.
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What persists does so because future bindings depend on it, even if everyone involved denies or forgets the original reason.
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Tradition is not narrative; it is the semiotic infrastructure that shapes what is possible next.
Temporal privilege is therefore asymmetrical: some bindings can shape generations of subsequent activity, while others vanish almost immediately. Some “weigh” heavily, others lightly. This uneven persistence is a core feature of temporal thickness.
Implications for the Series
Understanding tradition as frozen modulation allows us to:
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See asymmetry emerge naturally from structure rather than authority
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Recognise that some bindings persist even when false, irrelevant, or abandoned
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Understand that temporal privilege is embedded in semiotic constraints, not in moral, legal, or psychological recognition
The next post will extend this exploration to the extreme persistence of binding: trauma and binding without uptake, where what survives is not useful or productive but still unyielding. Here, thickness becomes burden — not guidance.
Next: Trauma and Binding Without Uptake — When Time Will Not Move On.
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