I'ld posit that a culture - any culture - defines itself by the ways it choses to be inefficient. There is no culture, no defining trait in an efficient way to do things - it is the way anyone would act if they acted logically.

As modern society progresses, more and more things get eliminated that are simply inefficient. That is great, as it increases productivity. But in the end, we need inefficient actions to define who we are. Think about the inefficiencies in your life. Do they match your convictions? Do they say something about who you are? Finding a better way to do things says nothing about you. It merely says you're logical. Hanging on to something that isn't efficient, well, that's different...