In a previous post, I suggested that so-called “idea viruses” might be thought of as either causes of or manifestations of informational cascades. I now think manifestation is the right characterization rather than cause. I am persuaded by this fascinating and frightening piece of research [PDF] showing that legislators tend to try to garner support [...]
It may seem odd, given the focus of this blog, to recommend a book on evolutionary biology. But Richard Dawkins’ book The Selfish Gene lays a solid foundation for helping to understand developments in the aggregation sciences.
Dawkins’ main thesis is that evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes, not organisms and not [...]
After giving it a little more thought, I have decided to use the term “site themes” instead of categories. The latter implies (to me, at least) that each post will be put in one and only one category, which is not at all how I have organized the site. “Themes” seems a little more flexible [...]
