The framework of networks can be very useful when thinking about social dynamics. The people are represented as the nodes and their interactions are the connections between them. Using this model we demonstrate how someone can become influential in a social context in just a few not very obvious steps.
A newly published research in the Vol 16, Issue 4 of Trends in Cognitive Sciences Journal titled “An oscillatory mechanism for prioritizing salient unattended stimuli” proposes an interesting mechanism of prioritizing important impulses employed in the human brain. It does not only offer a fresh point of view on how important synchronized brain-wave activity is for performing complex cognitive tasks, but also can show us the possible organizational structures that could be used to better detect a change in environment and provide fast responses to it.
Polysingularity is a condition where multiple solutions are possible and yet only some are actualized at any moment of time. It’s a study of how affordances (or environmental opportunities) come into contact with the human capacity to believe and make choices. Polysingularity is best described through the framework of networks where the node’s current state and future condition is dynamically determined by its specificity as well as the multiplicities it belongs to.
This is a report on the experiment that Nodus Labs conducted on some of the more active Russian protest Facebook groups formed after the rigged Russian election in 2011. We made two network visualizations for three different protest groups over a period of one month in order to observe their dynamics. We found that the most influential members of these groups were not too politically engaged before the elections and were mainly journalists, students, event organizers, and media workers. We also found that the groups formed around ideological causes (such as “Putin must leave”) stagnated in their development in January 2012, while the groups formed around a call for active participatory actions (“Volunteers for the fair elections”) have grown in size and density considerably, building a very well connected and yet open network that was able to bring many new members together around their cause.
Interfaces are all-pervading and their ability to enhance our communication and lives creates an almost religious devotion to technology. The ability to grant an instant gratification and expand our mind puts technology on the same level as drugs: highly addictive, could be dangerous in high dosage, very helpful and sometimes mind-blowing when consumed moderately. My proposition, drawing upon the ideas of Agamben, Foucault, and Kurzwell, is to de-sacralise what we’ve learned so far from the interfaces and to make it profane. Let’s embody the interfaces and bring the magic into the everyday life to allow the free reign of polysingularity.
