Humans appreciate creative solutions to vexing problems. We praise the adventurous souls who "think outside the box." But when the answer works it simply changes the shape and reinforces the structure of the box, because the box is the solid structure of society.
Thinkers outside the box are like space-walking astronauts. They're only useful when they're close to the ship, ministering directly to it. Untethered, they drift into space to die alone.
Successful box-dwellers find something useful to do inside it. It's full of all kinds of functions we have made necessary, requiring leadership and initiative to manage. You need a strong work ethic, and a belief in the shared values that have brought us so far from our primitive roots. Even our fringe dwellers recognize that success is defined by where you are in the box. If you go outside of it, you need to keep your feet planted on the top of it, so that people can still see you, and you can feed off of the box's resources.
At one point, hominid social organization consisted of one big ape who could beat up all the smaller apes. He would enjoy his period of dominance before age caught up with him and a new dominant ape would take the top spot. Evolution happened. Smaller hominids figured out how to defeat pure brawn, and could now exploit it. Aggressive muscle remains as dangerous a power source as a leaky nuclear reactor, but we've grown accustomed to it. It manifests itself in gun violence and domestic abuse and warlike ideologies now. It's the least desirable expression of liberty. But it saturates the structure of the box. All is measured against the box in some way.
There is no escape. Not one that you can survive for long, anyway. Act like you are far outside, by disregarding the norms, and you might as well be surrounded by airless blackness and implacable cold. You're not really outside. You're in the bottom of it, with the broken things and the dirt swept down from the tended levels above you. You are disconnected and seen as useless.
Norms change. Gradually we've come to accept things that had been too disturbing. What sets you apart is not what you are as much as what you do. Superficialities of appearance and behavior matter less. You can then be judged by how well your actions improve life for the box dwellers who matter.
