The question isn't if we've reached a global maximum (we obviously haven't) it's if we can do better than thousands of years of trial and error?
I can see the rationale for taking tradition as a baseline and tweaking it to better fit modern times. That's what every generation has done. The direction many of us are heading, however, is to assume that tradition is all bogus and we can do better today with just the scientific method.
I hope if the replication crisis in psychology has taught us anything it's that science applied to people is still in its infancy and we are not yet at a place where we can entirely discard the wisdom of our ancestors.
"The best outcome" doesn't mean the best life theoretically possible, it means the best life you can achieve for yourself in the life that you have. You do not have access to infinite information about how to live a good life. You have access to a limited amount of knowledge gained scientifically, an even more limited amount of your personal lived experience, and a vast trove of traditional wisdom. Given that limited knowledge, OP asserts that the best outcomes are achieved by paying heed to traditional wisdom.
There are certainly better ways to live than the ones handed down to us over millennia, and I think we ought to fine-tune what we've been given and learn from other cultures' traditions. But discarding everything our ancestors have given us because we think we know better is sheer arrogance.
> There are certainly better ways to live than the ones handed down to us over millennia, and I think we ought to fine-tune what we've been given and learn from other cultures' traditions.
Looks like we agree that the top level comment is wrong about "optimal set of rules that would more than likely produce the best outcome for your life", i.e. looks like you're also saying that these rules are not optimal and you're open to improving them.
I'm not sure why are you mentioning "discarding everything" in this context.
I can see the rationale for taking tradition as a baseline and tweaking it to better fit modern times. That's what every generation has done. The direction many of us are heading, however, is to assume that tradition is all bogus and we can do better today with just the scientific method.
I hope if the replication crisis in psychology has taught us anything it's that science applied to people is still in its infancy and we are not yet at a place where we can entirely discard the wisdom of our ancestors.