How trends propagate
Very interesting read about rebutting the ideas of Gladwell and his “tipping point” viral epicenter. Especially this sentence strikes a point with me:
“[...] researchers like anthropologist Pascal Boyer, who studies the psychology of religion, argue that our brains have evolved with an overactive agency-recognition system: We look for—and find—individual intention and design behind any pattern, even when none exists. After a bad harvest, we wonder how we have angered the gods; after a trend goes viral, we wonder what special person could have made it happen. This model also has the virtue of simplicity and, perhaps most importantly, that of flattering its target audience.” (emphasis mine)
I’m so very bored with people not appreciating pure chaos as the determinant for events. Nono, it has to be god this and god that, and spiritual mumbojumbo and bloody Elton John.
ok, that was getting off topic 
Tipped over: social influence “tipping point” theory debunked
Tags: debunking, science, sociology
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