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DevinMcDougallSecondPaper 15 - 12 Jan 2012 - Main.BahradSokhansanj
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[READY FOR REVIEW] | | | Finally, you argue that thinking about brains and societies using the network metaphor opens up possibilities for technology-driven (and accelerated) social change, and you cite the Occupy Movement and the Arab Spring as examples. With respect to the Arab Spring, it strikes me as a gross oversimplification of complex socio-political dynamics to somehow credit Facebook or online memes with widespread social upheaval (especially when, as Moglen noted, social-media is as much a weapon of State as it is a tool of the protestor). Even if we agree that technology played a key role in facilitating the uprisings across the Arab world, I'm not sure why we need your metaphor. While it's possible the "psychological law" of thousands of people changed, it seems just as likely that technology merely provided an end-around the traditional obstacles to organizing opposition in an authoritarian state. As to the Occupy Movement, it's again unclear how the "law" changed. Indeed, there is nothing "new" about the ideas or rhetoric underpinning the Movement. Resenting the "wealthy," blaming capitalism in times of economic difficulty, villainizing corporations, failing to offer any real or feasible solutions--these are more the tired talking points of the far left than the novel arguments of a new social movement. Again, even if we agree that technology somehow "changed the law," whether meaningful social change will occur is another matter. In Egypt, there's no guarantee that Mubarak will be replaced with a liberal regime that acknowledges, much less protects, the freedoms and rights we like to think are universal. If anything, the opposite seems more likely. And, the Occupy protestors have achieved little more than antagonizing the police, inconveniencing people who work in "occupied" areas, and supplying the 24 hour news outlets with a few weeks' worth of material. | |
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> | -- MatthewLadner - 11 Jan 2012 | | | | |
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> | Do social networks actually change minds? Or, is it about reducing the cost of organization / provide information / identify opportunities to gather and protest, etc. What is the power of a social network to persuade? I guess intuitively it has some power, but I'd like to see if there's any empirical measurement of that happening. | | | | |
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< | -- MatthewLadner - 11 Jan 2012 | >
> | -- BahradSokhansanj - 12 Jan 2012 |
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