Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas. Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion.
The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals. "When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority," said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. Western & eastern science2008.pdf. Clifford Stoll on ... everything.
Clark%20E.%20Natural-Born%20Cyborgs-%20Minds,%20Technologies,%20and%20the%20Future%20of%20Human%20Intelligence.pdf | kalen. Synchronicity, Myth, and the New World Order. Looking out upon the horrid ruin we seem to have made of the planet, in spite of the kind hearts and good intentions of the vast majority of human beings, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that some nefarious force has hijacked civilization, driving it towards ends that serve almost no one. If we are headed for a future that no one would consciously choose, it stands to reason, some say, that we are not choosing; that something else, unfriendly to human welfare, is choosing for us. Deeper study of certain pivotal events in history strengthens this conclusion. The official explanations of the Kennedy assassination or 9/11 are riddled with contradictions that are difficult to explain. Ominous coincidences pile up and make patterns, pointing toward a conscious agency orchestrating these events toward sinister goals.
Diving deeper, one discovers patterns of patterns that ultimately coalesce into an alternate history of the world. We have been betrayed. What about the global conspiracy? Occupy Your Mind. Regular readers will recall it is my occasional habit to reprint articles of particular consequence in The Hames Report. In that spirit I recently asked my US-based friend and colleague Dr David Martin if I could print a piece he had just published on his BlogSpot Inverted Alchemy. He did not hesitate. But then I read this important piece again. And again. I realised that merely reprinting David’s article would not satisfy the insatiable desire I had to elaborate on some of his most critical points. Returning from Salt Lake City to Charlottesville via Chicago provided a suboptimal venue to listen to the audio of Ken Wilber’s interview conducted by my friend Todd Goldfarb. Let me provide a bit of background. Who do we think we are? Has capitalism ‘worked’ when: 1. 2. 3. Has our social conscience evolved when: 1. 2. 3.
It would be lovely to imagine a world in which we would hold ourselves to an abiding commitment that ‘evolution’ might actually involve some notion of improvement.
Reel Wisdom Lessons from 40 Films in 7 Minutes. Indigenous Land and Lore. Blog | World Wide Tipping Point. One of the most intriguing realizations I have come to from the broad range of conversations in the tipping series is this: While there does seem to be an element of universality in the impulse to ‘change the world for the better’, agreement eludes even the most enlightened thinkers on how to actually make the great shift. Through these interviews I have found two general types of people passionate about global transformation: activists and spiritualists.
While certainly not the only categories of change-makers around, these two ideologies stand out as containing critical pieces of code for how to make sustainable change on the planet. And unfortunately, they are often at odds with one other. This has always bothered me, and today I am sharing two videos that typify each of these worldviews.
Activism: We Must Go Forth And Eradicate All Evil The first video has swept the world garnering almost 80 million YouTube views in its first week. Let me give an example to make this point clearer. SBS: Documentary: All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. 21st century enlightenment youtube.