moderates are especially extinct in America. We're extreme about everything here.
seekliberation --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@...> wrote: > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: anartaxius <anartaxius@...> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2012 10:36 AM > Subject: [FairfieldLife] WHY MODERATE BELIEFS RARELY PREVAIL > > >  > Moderates on FFL, we are going to lose. > > WHY MODERATE BELIEFS RARELY PREVAIL > > 'We live in a world of extremes, where being fervently for or against an > issue often becomes the dominant social ideology ââ¬" until an opposing > belief that is equally extreme emerges to challenge the first one, eventually > becoming the new social paradigm. And so the cycle repeats, with one > ideological extreme replacing another, and neither delivering a sustainable > solution. Political revolutions, economic bubbles, booms and busts in > consumer confidence, and short-lived reforms such as Prohibition in the US > all follow this kind of cycle. Why, researchers want to know, does a majority > of the population not settle on an intermediate position that blends the best > of the old and new?' > > http://phys.org/news/2012-10-moderate-beliefs-rarely-prevail.html > > 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.' > > http://phys.org/news/2011-07-minority-scientists-ideas.html > > PHYSICS MODEL DETERMINES DYNAMICS OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES > > 'Sometimes friends can become enemies and enemies become friends, and > itââ¬â¢s difficult to understand exactly how or why the changes took > place. A new study shows that when the shifting of alliances and rivalries is > interpreted using principles from social psychology, the overall behavior can > be modeled as arising from an energy minimization process. The work is part > of a growing line of research that uses tools from physics to analyze complex > social systems.' > > http://phys.org/news178954961.html >
