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- Our ties to others affect emotions, sex, health, politics, money, evolution and technology
- Acts of aggression typical set off a cascade of killings
- morality resides in groups instead of individuals
Insights
- the particular pattern of ties are more important than the individuals
- different patterns facilitate the individuals in the groups
- structures are more important than shared traits of individuals
- we influence how densely connected we are
- core discussions network decreases as we age
- needs tending and should not be taken for granted
- our mirror neurons gets affected by our network
Principles
- emergent properties
- inherent in the interactions and interconnection of the parts
- Rule 5 – social proofing from 5 people is as effective as any number above that
- 6 degree of connectedness
- 3 degrees of influence
- network instability inhibits 4th degrees
- Situational inequality
- where you are in the network matters
- affects if you are healthier or richer than others
- even if you have no control
On Mating
- your network will find a mate for you
- being in a network with more men than women makes it harder to find a partner and leads to a shorter life
- Much easier to go for a guy that other women in your network are going for
- assessment is already done by others
- Men bring money and resources to the table
- Women bring emotional/social support
- friendship network and mating network are very different
On Friendship
- Habits / behavior spread – culture
- can be attributed to mirror neurons
- behavior of female is more contagious than the behavior of male
- people who have five friends who know one another has a different genetic makeup than a person with five friends who do not know one another
- religion is the opiate of disconnected people
On Health
- Targeting folks at the central of a network to treat an epidemic is more effective than treating those at the fringes in the case of aids
On Politics
- Being in a politically active network makes you more likely to vote even in they support the opposing politician
- peer pressure
- voting makes no logical sense, since your impact is statistically insignificant
Mathematics
- Contagion goes through a pattern called Levy Flight
- imagine a seagull
- Mathematicians
- Pierre Levy
- Benoit Mandelbrot
- Weighted average of the crowd is not that inaccurate
Weak ties versus Strong ties
- Strong ties help dissemination within networks
- Weak ties act as bridge between different networks
- useful for search large areas of networks
- people with lots of weak ties get more frequently sought out for advice and given opportunities
- they become central to the overall network
- minority power effect – a small group of influentially positioned individuals can consistently get their way
- it appears we often start our search for information two or three degrees away to make sure we learn something new
On language
- makes it easier to interact with people as types rather than as individuals
Online networks
- roles
- Co-operators
- free riders
- punishers
- manages public good versus private good
