Smart Mobs: Technologies of Cooperation

Orstom’s characteristics for self-governing & self-organizing groupsClear boundaries (otherwise they become sites of disruption)Rules match local needs/conditions (eg carrying capacity)People affected by rules can also modify them (democratic)Right to design rules respected by external authorities (state does not intrude)Monitoring system for behavior (important for both punishment and commitment) Graduated sanctions: recall forgiveness in TIT for TAT modelEasy access to conflict resolution mechanisms (sex in bonobos,

Marc Smith adds

Commitment to cooperate as important as punishment: esp for contingent cooperators Good will itself can be a CPRSocial pressure can be more than just punishments: gossip, ritual behavior, etc.

Smart Mobs: Technologies of Cooperation

Power of social networks expressed as rules of thumb (“laws” perhaps gilding lilly)

Sarnoff’s law: value of one-to-many broadcast network proportionate to number of viewers

Metcalfe’s Law: total value of network of nodes grows w/square of # of nodes

2 connections 25 connections 144 connections