Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Media Is an Echo Chamber

Re:Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Medi... by ArkyBeagle on Thursday October 13, 2016 @06:39PM (#12704742)

Not very practical, is it? I think the process is fractal down to the basic fundamental tribe-size of 100 or so. The transaction costs of tribes of 100 interacting without a larger macro social network would be substantial.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Medi... by carsongross on Thursday October 13, 2016 @07:06PM (#12704919)

Yes, any potential innovation can be made to seem ridiculous by sufficient over-application.

In the real world, secessionism appears to be on the rise, with Brexit and the ongoing Spanish situation. Let us hope that Scotland is next, and we have an increasing number of templates for peaceful devolution of sovereignty.

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Re:Whether You’re a Democrat or Republican, Your Social Medi... by ArkyBeagle on Thursday October 13, 2016 @09:59PM (#12705681)

I think there is much to recommend this. Sadly, most of that is people's sense of identity, a generator of all manner of irrationality. But we work with what we have, I suppose.

Edward Longshanks took (rather forceful) exception to Scots secession. Abraham Lincoln took (even more forceful - why was the Anaconda Plan abandoned, anyway?) exception to Southern secession. I know Texas secessionists ( glancingly, not well ) and I tend to quote Sam Houston to them. They're not to be taken seriously. Yet.

I see no reason to think the pattern would abate. Brexit isn't in that set because the Eurozone is barely even a convenient fiction. It's a con job, the sort it would take an H.L. Mencken to characterize properly.

I can't even choose a pet narrative of how it is we should be organized in that way. I just know how it is - we're in really big chunks. I credit the sort of peace we now enjoy somewhat to the size of those chunks.

[ Parent | on HN ]