Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread | Sandy Pentland | Talks at Google

What Hacker News said

Strong rec legel · 2016-06 · on “New Cities”

The most profound thing I know about cities + public policy: Google hosted a talk in 2014 by MIT Professor Sandy Pentland called "Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread". His research concludes that our connectivity - free and fast flow of data on networks, people on roads, goods and services, etc. - is our greatest economic and social virtue. His models show - "like a law" - that the more connected we are, the wealthier we are as a society. Check it out: [this video] And good luck to everyone behind this.

Strong rec patcon · 2019-12 · on “How Trolls Overran the Public Square”

Yay! Social physics :) There's a great Authors at Google talk by Sandy Pentland, about his book of the same name. Gives a good overview of the book, but 100% still worth a read after watching, esp if you are someone who works with (or would like to work with) large groups of people -- event organizing, companies, community, group facilitation, etc. [this video]

Recommends gd2 · 2015-09 · on “Two scientists meeting on a bus leads to discovery in the lab”

Sandy Pentland: "Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread" | Talks at Google similar theme. [this video] I think its in this video that he talks about the productivity gains of the seemingly random exchanges of ideas, and the possibility to increase them by scheduling and thoughtfully designed common areas.

Recommends legel · 2015-09 · on “From Radio to Porn, British Spies Track Web Users’ Online Identities”

You bring up two very interesting and powerful phenomena: "siren servers" and "social physics". The first term is used by Jaron Lanier to describe computer systems that, like "sirens" of the sea, lure everyone into their beautiful environs, collect all of the data on them, and statistically model all of this data in ways that effectively master the nature of this individual - her beliefs, her abilities, her emotions - until ultimately that individual is made both completely vulnerable and completely powerless. Lanier's book is intentionally provocative and controversial, while rather intelligent and compassionate in its spirit, and I recommend checking it out: [LINK] . The second term comes

Cites patcon · 2019-04 · on “Parable of the Polygons (2014)”

The field of social physics has lots to say about this: [this video] [LINK] > What pattern of exploration and social learning produced the best outcome? We discovered the answer when we plotted the return on investment each trader got against the diversity of ideas he or she harvested through social learning. Social physics supports a framing that groups are like "machines for finding the best ideas", and having group members with access to diverse sources of ideas (polygons from different spaces and experiences count as this) is part of a properly calibrated social network where the best ideas are within reach, to address any given challenge that may surface.

Cites patcon · 2022-09 · on “I tricked myself into working out 3 times per week”

Nice! In case anyone is interested in the science of this effect and it's surprising power, this is an almost exact reproduction of an experiment, in the field of "connection science" or "social physics". (NOTE: The true value here is in the CROSS-INCENTIVIZATION with an existing social relationship, not just the money) The general truism that falls out of it is: When possible, always apply incentives to the social fabric, not individuals. i.e. incentivize the edges of the graph (the relationships), rather than the nodes (the people) in isolation. Seek results by always opting to strengthen social bonds, instead of trying to bend people (who are social creatures) into actions while neglectin