<div dir="ltr">I applaud Joseph's identification of what I consider the most serious threat to modern civilization.<div>As an organization that takes as its primary aim to be an understanding of information in its most complete sense,</div><div>what could be more valuable than for us to focus the goal of finding ways to mitigate the influence of IT-based disinformation.</div><div>This is far from a trivial issue, and it requires a full scientific conceptualization of information to succeed;</div><div>i.e. one that takes the referential (meaningful) and normative (pragmatic) aspects of information seriously.</div><div>Rather than bickering over our differing theoretical perspectives, we could spend our efforts exploring what each might contribute to this critical need.</div><div>We can add to these challenges the need to also counter the rapid development of surveillance technologies and AI-based manipulation of opinion and behavior.</div><div>In other words, there is so much that we collectively have to offer if we can just focus on what matters.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 7:38 AM Joseph Brenner <<a href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>
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<div lang="FR">
<div class="gmail-m_7047513086041007738Section1">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Dear Pedro and All,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Disinformation is produced and disseminated in four
major domains: politics, science, communications and the operation of the
current social system.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Politics<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Science<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Communications<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">The Social System; Hypocrisy<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">The reason I refer to disinformation as a science is not
to ennoble it, but to emphasize that combating it requires close attention to
its scientific and philosophical properties and dynamics. Let us use the term
narrative to refer to a ‘unit’ of the discourse in the domains, and
I give just a few examples here.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Politics<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Left-wing and right-wing politicians are equally bad. This
doctrine pushed by the <i><span style="font-style:italic">left-</span></i>wing
publicist Ralph Nader during his run for the U.S. Presidency in 2000 led to his
gaining enough Democratic voters to result in the victory of the Republican
Bush and the <u></u><u></u>Iraq<u></u><u></u>
war. Despite the Obama interlude, it set the pre-conditions for the subsequent
emergence of Trump.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="2" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Science<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Driven by fundamentalist dogma, disinformation about the
risks <i><span style="font-style:italic">vs. </span></i>the necessity of vaccination
is increasingly common. Similarly, the number of people who believe (or claim
to believe, see below) that the Earth is flat is increasing compared to the
last Century. Many Americans still believe that global warming is a hoax,
propagated by ‘Communists’, interested in destroying our economic system
(see 4).<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="3" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Communications<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Disinformation about the Internet leads to resistance to
control in the name of ‘Free Speech’. I defy anyone who has seen
recent interviews of Zuckerberg on TV to claim that he does not deserve
criminal prosecution.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="4" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">The Social System; Hypocrisy<u></u><u></u></span></font></li>
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">If people are forced to pretend publicly that they
believe the disinformation they receive (to keep their jobs, <i><span style="font-style:italic">etc.</span></i>), hypocrisy becomes institutionalized
and endemic. It is then possible to ask whether the current neo-capitalist
system in fact depends on disinformation for its continued existence.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:35.4pt;text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Finally, it is very easy, IMHO, to distinguish between
disinformation and misinformation, without becoming too
‘technical’: the latter is essentially accidental, although its
consequences may be disastrous in individual cases. The former is intentional,
and its consequences are becoming increasingly disastrous. Theories of
Information Science that neglect or occult the role of intentionality in the
transfer of information, that is, communications, leave the door open to
further disinformation.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">I welcome both agreements and disagreements with the
above, as well as possible themes for <i><span style="font-style:italic">FIS </span></i>and
<i><span style="font-style:italic">FDS </span></i>discussion.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Best wishes,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"">Joseph<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><font size="2" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode""> <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma">
Fis [mailto:<a href="mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es</a>] <b><span style="font-weight:bold">On
Behalf Of </span></b>Pedro C. Marijuan<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> lundi, 25 novembre 2019
14:22<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> <u></u><a href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">fis@listas.unizar.es</a><u></u><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Fis] FW: The Age of
Discord</span></font><span lang="EN-US"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Dear List,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Am responding to Joseph and to Diego.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">To the former, I agree on the quantitative mirage when trying to
formalize history. Perhaps the best contents in Turchin's books refer to
qualitative aspects, for instance the development of "frontier"
countries he discusses (the cases of Russia, Spain, and US and others). The
main point on the emergence of those long term trends of progression/regression
or oscillations is very intriguing and I think we cannot substantiate it easily.
The organization of an ad hoc discussion session would be quite interesting
(can someone help on that possibility?). The relationship with the historical
acceleration an the emergence of new of information flows would also be
intriguing. As I comment below, it can be a fertile new field and a necessity
to be covered by information philosophy. We badly need to put the most relevant
aspects in an integrative view.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">To Diego, my focus was not only in the Latin American countries. If we
contemplate recent months/years, we see many other mass explosions (Algeria,
Tunisia, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Ukraine, Jordania...) and I had
already included other Arab countries, plus Spain, France, and other movements:
Trumpism, Brexiterism, and also we could include Metooism, indignados, and all
kinds of offendidisms & populisms... Everywhere there are deep causes
around for mass-mobilization, some are different, some may be common. But it is
not just the arrival of "conquistadores" scapegoat. By the way, they parted
away two centuries ago, and some of those countries were not in bad shape 50-60
years ago (Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba.... The case of Argentina is
amazing: after WWI she was the fourth richest country of the world. Venezuela's
case, unfortunately, is more dramatic). Coincidentally, in discussions with
Islamic-inclined parties, I was surprised to find another scapegoat widely
argumented: the Crusades. Islamic societies failed to make the different modern
transitions due to the cultural-political crisis brought forth by the crusades
(seven-eight centuries ago!). Well, to escape from traditional cliches or from
political preferences I think Acemoglu's views are quite balanced about these
themes, particularly in his 2012 book, <i><span style="font-style:italic"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail" title="Why Nations Fail" target="_blank">Why
Nations Fail</a></span></i>. Our colleague Howard Bloom has also written
penetrating analyses on the historical evolution of Islamic societies versus
the Western world.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Summing up, that the new media are one of those deep causes
contributing to irritated socio-political and cultural climates is an idea that
can be found in quite a few analyses today. Coincidentally I could read this
weekend an international analyst with very similar opinions to my own on the
e-destabilization in the mentioned world regions. Widespread mass-additions to
e-life are a fact: data on use of screens are outrageous. Adults in the US
spend on average more that ten hours daily watching, reading, listening to or
simply interacting with media. US adolescents spend an average of 9 hours daily
in front of their cell phones screens. In parallel, a growing epidemics of
adolescent medicalization and prescription of opioids and drug abuse is taking
shape. That means a brave new style of life and a brave new mode of thinking
are on the advance... <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Best regards<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--Pedro<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">El 22/11/2019 a las 12:54, Joseph Brenner escribió:<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
</div>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5pt;margin-bottom:5pt" type="cite">
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode ;color:navy"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode ;color:navy";color:navy">Dear Pedro and All,<u></u><u></u></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode ;color:navy"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode ;color:navy";color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">I agree in general with Pedro on the importance of Turchin’s
transdisciplinary approach, but feel that something is missing in his attempted
synthesis in <i><span style="font-style:italic">Cliodynamics. </span></i>I say
attempted for two reasons: for me, he overemphasizes the role of mathematics
– historical databases and such, and the title of his journal is <i><span style="font-style:italic">Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution. </span></i>This
is not to say that mathematical methods do not have a role, but if the
objective is that history become an analytical, predictive science like others
so described, I see the potential loss of its essential <i><span style="font-style:italic">qualitative</span></i> aspects. The statement that
Trump is worse than Nixon is not analytical.<u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"> <u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">The (clio)dynamics of Pedro’s 5 points are also
non-analytical and non-mathematizable. However, he uses two, related terms that
I think should be unpacked: 1) low progress 2) secular oscillation. I see
decades-long trends of <i><span style="font-style:italic">re-</span></i>gress,
such that only if the sinusoidal oscillation can also move backwards is it fair
to call it an oscillation<i><span style="font-style:italic">.<u></u><u></u></span></i></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans
Unic"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans\00000a Unic";color:navy;font-style:italic"> <u></u></span></span></font></i><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">If it is a fundamental <i><span style="font-style:italic">irrationality</span></i>
that is underlying current cultural evolution –or perhaps better <i><span style="font-style:italic">de</span></i>volution, then the practice of
Information Science and Philosophy must take this into account to be meaningful.<u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans
Unic"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans\00000a Unic";color:navy;font-style:italic"> <u></u></span></span></font></i><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">I am not arguing for the sake of arguing, but the repetition of
only the most commonly accepted usages of terms is not going to help.<u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"> <u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">Thank you and best wishes,<u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"> <u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">Joseph<u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans
Unic"><span><u></u><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans\00000a Unic";color:navy;font-style:italic"> <u></u></span></span></font></i><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans
Unic"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans\00000a Unic";color:navy;font-style:italic"> </span></span></font></i><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"> <u></u><u></u></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"> <u></u><u></u></span></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma">
Fis [<a href="mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es</a>]
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">On Behalf Of </span></b>Pedro C. Marijuan<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> vendredi, 22 novembre 2019
12:14<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> 'fis'<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> [Fis] The Age of Discord</span></font><u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
<u></u><u></u>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Dear FIS
& IS4SI Colleagues,<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">"The
Age of Discord" was the title of a lecture that the historian and
sociologist Peter Turchin, founder of the Cliodynamics approach, gave recently
in the Netherlands. The slides can be easily obtained in the web (in his blog).
The content was mainly referring to a decades-long trend of low progress and
rise of inequality, and as a consequence growing social unrest. It would form
part of a secular oscillation in history... But I think there is a new potent
factor: the hyperconnectivity we talked weeks ago.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">These
days we are watching violent demonstrations in numerous countries: Chile,
Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, Iran, Irak, Lebanon... plus Hongkong, Spain
(Barcelona), France (gilets jaunes), and the rising polarization from Trumpism
and Brexit. There is a contagion effect in some cases. But a common factor is
the influence of social networks. In several aspects: <u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--How
easy is to organize demonstrations and activist concentrations.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--How
easy is to disseminate information that efficiently counteracts governments'
efforts to maintain social order. <u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--How
easyly anger and hatred are shared among the masses, generating a collective
climate of insults, physical violence, highest irritation.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--How easily
outright lies, disinformation, vitriolic attacks are jumping from screen to
screen to the eyeballs of hypnotized watchers.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--The
proportion of "negative" to "positive" (say of emotional
responses) has become the highest in the history of communication.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">My
opinion is that the new media and new modalities of hyperconnection, still
deprived of constraining cultural patterns, are the genuine movers of this
"Age of Discord", without rejecting the other factors implied in Turchin
secular views. This time there is something really new agitating history and
the masses (like printing press, steam engines...). Is there hope that
collective intelligence will domesticate this artificial information flow soon?
Of course, without a loss of individual freedoms.<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">Best
wishes<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt">--Pedro<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<pre cols="72"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">-- <u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">-------------------------------------------------<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Pedro C. Marijuán<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><u></u> <u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" target="_blank">pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es</a><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/" target="_blank">http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/</a><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">------------------------------------------------- <u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<fieldset></fieldset><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">_______________________________________________<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Fis mailing list<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="mailto:Fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">Fis@listas.unizar.es</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis" target="_blank">http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">----------<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">INFORMACIÓN SOBRE PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS DE CARÁCTER PERSONAL<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Ud. recibe este correo por pertenecer a una lista de correo gestionada por la Universidad de Zaragoza.<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Puede encontrar toda la información sobre como tratamos sus datos en el siguiente enlace: <a href="https://sicuz.unizar.es/informacion-sobre-proteccion-de-datos-de-caracter-personal-en-listas" target="_blank">https://sicuz.unizar.es/informacion-sobre-proteccion-de-datos-de-caracter-personal-en-listas</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Recuerde que si está suscrito a una lista voluntaria Ud. puede darse de baja desde la propia aplicación en el momento en que lo desee.<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="http://listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">http://listas.unizar.es</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">----------<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre></blockquote>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<pre cols="72"><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">-- <u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">-------------------------------------------------<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Pedro C. Marijuán<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group<u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" target="_blank">pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt"><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/" target="_blank">http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/</a><u></u><u></u></span></font></pre><pre><font size="2" face="Courier New"><span style="font-size:10pt">------------------------------------------------- <u></u><u></u></span></font></pre></div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
Fis mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">Fis@listas.unizar.es</a><br>
<a href="http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis</a><br>
----------<br>
INFORMACIÓN SOBRE PROTECCIÓN DE DATOS DE CARÁCTER PERSONAL<br>
<br>
Ud. recibe este correo por pertenecer a una lista de correo gestionada por la Universidad de Zaragoza.<br>
Puede encontrar toda la información sobre como tratamos sus datos en el siguiente enlace: <a href="https://sicuz.unizar.es/informacion-sobre-proteccion-de-datos-de-caracter-personal-en-listas" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://sicuz.unizar.es/informacion-sobre-proteccion-de-datos-de-caracter-personal-en-listas</a><br>
Recuerde que si está suscrito a una lista voluntaria Ud. puede darse de baja desde la propia aplicación en el momento en que lo desee.<br>
<a href="http://listas.unizar.es" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://listas.unizar.es</a><br>
----------<br>
</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Professor Terrence W. Deacon<br>University of California, Berkeley</div>