Would argue whether "immediate dissemination of blow-by-blow, with 50% accuracy," is really a useful trait, when it comes to people who are simply spectators :)
Actually, it is useful in a sense. You may need to look at it on a scale with different-sized agents, though.
First of all, the "50% accuracy" remark is neither accurate nor fair. Rumors can propagate swiftly as well as legit information, but so can statements to follow up on said rumors. Nor does the possibility for misinformation automatically translate into 50/50 odds that any particular item you read is true. The originating source is everything here.
Second, looking at this on the level of large, distributed social networks as pathways for spreading information throughout the morass, what you have is (metaphorically) an increase in the synaptic firing rate of a distributed social brain.
For specific-domain problem solving only, and it does nothing to enhance the individuals' knowledge or brainpower other than to send them the information (which still needs to be vetted for fact-checking in some cases, though "patching" areas of the network afflicted with bad information is easier too), but the performance of the overall is noticeably increased.
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chiming
no subject
Date: 2009-03-13 04:21 (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-13 05:24 (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-13 09:41 (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-13 07:12 (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-03-14 05:06 (UTC)From:First of all, the "50% accuracy" remark is neither accurate nor fair. Rumors can propagate swiftly as well as legit information, but so can statements to follow up on said rumors. Nor does the possibility for misinformation automatically translate into 50/50 odds that any particular item you read is true. The originating source is everything here.
Second, looking at this on the level of large, distributed social networks as pathways for spreading information throughout the morass, what you have is (metaphorically) an increase in the synaptic firing rate of a distributed social brain.
For specific-domain problem solving only, and it does nothing to enhance the individuals' knowledge or brainpower other than to send them the information (which still needs to be vetted for fact-checking in some cases, though "patching" areas of the network afflicted with bad information is easier too), but the performance of the overall is noticeably increased.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-14 06:19 (UTC)From: