> A small number of communities initiate most conflicts, with 1% of communities initiating 74% of all conflicts.<p>This reminds me of an old episode of Radiolab (I think?) in which a New York cop started doing data analysis on petty crimes and discovered that some particular crime waves (for example, “purse snatching is up 120%!”) it would turn out to be just one guy who had turned it into a sort of career.<p>I think about that all the time. Sometimes what appears to be a widespread problem is really just a single bad actor (or software bug, or leaky pipe, etc.)<p>Unfortunately that cop’s data analysis turned into a computer system which was then abused as a quota system for arrests, but I still appreciate the original idea.<p>[Edit] I think it was this episode of Reply All: <a href="https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2hx34" rel="nofollow">https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2hx34</a>
Super interesting that it seems to confirm the adage people fight because they are similar and not because they are different. E.g. they're interested in the same things and it's the struggle over the minutae that creates the conflict.<p>Small differences create the largest conflict, and large differences mean people ignore each other in that model. Should give some people pause.
> Conflicts are marked by the formation of "echo-chambers", where users in the discussion thread primarily interact with other members of their own community (i.e., "attackers" interact with "attackers" and "defenders" with "defenders").<p>Try posting anything not extremely supportive of the named individual in this thread and see what happens. Consider it an experiment of social behavior.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27528876" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27528876</a>
Democracy depends on open discussion and community between individuals. In that context, you can consider this type of interaction a vulnerability or attack surface.<p>What do you think might be an effective way to mitigate this vulnerability?<p>The only thing I can think of is "Don't be a jerk".
Not real medical advice, but I guess if you must have a smart speaker in your bedroom, you could also smoke cannabis to have fewer dreams, therefore fewer dream advertisements..<p><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-teenage-mind/200906/marijuana-sleep-and-dreams" rel="nofollow">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-teenage-mind/200...</a><p>(I'm mostly being sarcastic here, but... there is something to this)