To the Local Congregation, 

 

Tomorrow is going to be my last FRIAM for a bit.  So, I am hoping to leave with 
answers to the following two questions.  The first comes from an R. G. 
Colleague of mine from France and Serbia, etc.  

 

“Interference” in elections has been going on between countries forever, and we 
and the British are particularly adept at it with our BBC’s and our “Cultural 
Programs”, and the CIA screwing the Iranian elections, etc.  So, why is the 
Russian interference in our election (and the French election)(and the Brexit 
vote) such a big deal?  What is special about it?  Are we just being whiners 
and crybabies?

 

The second is entirely my own, and is, in fact, a left-over from a conversation 
we were having last week: 

 

Some people think that global warming, coastal flooding, etc., is not something 
to worry about and “we”call those people “climate deniers”.  “We” have many 
friends, relatives, and financial commitments in the Bay Area of California, in 
Seattle and in the Los Angeles basin, where at least one very severe earthquake 
is very likely in the next 20 years.  Are “we” tectonics deniers?  

 

Discuss.  Give your reasons. 

 

Nick 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

 <http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/> 
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2017 9:13 PM
To: Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Facebook. And this it not a troll

 

I'm following Melanie Mitchell's SFI complexity mooc. 

  
https://www.complexityexplorer.org/courses/74-introduction-to-complexity-spring-2017/segments/5687

 

In the first video, it was mentioned Facebook is a fascinating example of a 
complex system, and in particular, how information traverses the network.

 

So here's a group question or two:

- If you use Facebook, how do you use it and why?

- And if yes, how is it an information source for you?

 

My interest is the contrast between Facebook and Twitter. Twitter is "the most 
information per square inch" but Facebook seems to me to be all over the map.

 

A second difference is that there are people for which Facebook *is* The Web. 
By that I mean they enter it and stay there. It is their "email", "web", 
"social", "team (slack)", "tv" (FB recently started streaming video), and more. 
Sorta like the browser is for other ecosystems.

 

So any interesting observation on The FaceBook Phenomenon?

 

   -- Owen

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