According to LessWrong essayist G Wood, morality isn't an objective truth or rational construction—it's a system of memes that evolved to coordinate behavior within societies. Drawing from memetics and evolutionary biology, Wood argues that just as organisms have innate drives like seeking sugar for survival, cultures develop moral rules to ensure their own persistence. Moral rules like 'don't steal' are 'load-bearing'—they enable trade and cooperation. Others are purely cultural signaling, like formal dress codes. Some are even harmful, yet persist until societies abandon them. The insight: morality is a functional coordination mechanism, not a discovery of eternal principles. Understanding this framework helps explain why moral systems vary across cultures, yet all serve the fundamental purpose of keeping their members cooperative enough to survive.

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