Magic 8 ball answers can be great for resolving petty conflicts.
Follow this now.
If there is a petty conflict, what are the possible outcomes?
- Person A can apologize to Person B.
- Person B can apologize to Person A.
- Both can apologize.
- Neither can apologize.
A Magic 8 Ball removes these last two options and – most importantly – always resolves the conflict peacefully.
After all, for it to work, you have to believe it works.
This society is that of the Azande, a people who inhabit north-central Africa. Today there are at least a million Azande; according to some estimates there may be as many as 4 million. A famous anthropologist named E. E. Evans-Pritchard lived among and observed the Azande firsthand in the late 1920s. His observations provide the basis for what I want to tell you about these people and their oracles. They are far from the only ones who’ve relied on Magic 8 Ball–like devices to make important decisions, though. In the Ndogo tribes of Sudan, the Balovale tribes of Zimbabwe, the Nzakara and Apagibeti tribes of the Central African Republic, the Ngbandi tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Yoruba tribe of West Africa, societies in Ghana, Cameroon, and elsewhere people have routinely relied on oracles too.
-Peter Leeson, WTF?! An Economic Tour Of The Weird
