HUQUQ | Truth. Remediation. Reconciliation.
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • People & Figures
  • Translate site
  • Register or Sign In

HUQUQ.com

  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
  • RESEARCH
    • Book Reviews
      • About HRoB
      • List of Reviews
      • For authors and publishers
    • Journal
    • Reporting
    • In The News
      • Comments
      • HUQUQ Updates
  • TEACHING
    • Teaching
    • Bibliography
    • Courses and Syllabi
  • RESOURCES
    • Services
    • DIRECTORIES
      • Add Listing
      • INDEX OF SCHOLARLY WORKS
      • GLOBAL DIRECTORY
    • JOBS
      • Awards and Jobs
      • Jobs
      • Job Dashboard
      • Post a Job
  • Q&A
    • Ask Question
    • Questions
    • Q&A User Profile
  • FIND…
  • Login
Subscribe
  • No products in cart.
  • Home
  • Review
  • Is social media-enabled collective behavior creating a crisis?

BLOG

Ahmed Souaiaia
Prof. Souaiaia
Monday, 19 July 2021 / Published in Biology, Interdisciplinary, Paper review, Philosophy

Is social media-enabled collective behavior creating a crisis?

Stewardship of global collective behavior
Authors: Carl T. Bergstrom, et al., Joseph B. Bak-Coleman, Mark Alfano, Miguel A. Centeno, Wolfram Barfuss
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Published: July 6, 2021
Reviewer: Ahmed E. Souaiaia
Page Count: 10
Format: Online
Collective behavior provides a framework for understanding how the actions and properties of groups emerge from the way individuals generate and share information. In humans, information flows were initially shaped by natural selection yet are increasingly structured by emerging communication technologies. Our larger, more complex social networks now transfer high-fidelity information over vast distances at low cost. The digital age and the rise of social media have accelerated changes to our social systems, with poorly…
0.0Overall Score

Stewardship of global collective behavior

Characterizing the effects of scaled-up communication technology on societies around the world as a global phenomenon with new risks to humanity, seventeen researchers, from anthropology, ...

  • Thesis
  • Originality (theory)
  • Approach (method)
  • Literature review
  • Supporting evidence
  • Writing style

Characterizing the effects of scaled-up communication technology on societies around the world as a global phenomenon with new risks to humanity, seventeen researchers, from anthropology, biology, philosophy, psychology, and some interdisciplinary programs, penned the research note, Stewardship of Global Collective Behavior, explaining the nature of the problem and recommending solutions.

The main thesis of the paper is the proposition that advances in communication technologies have accelerated social change, modified traditional social networks, and created new risks. These changes resulted in a new form of collective behavior on a global scale, making social systems even more complex and more difficult to study, understand, and explain.

The paper succeeds in highlighting the fact that social media-driven collective behavior has consequential effects on all areas of life. In other words, the scaled-up collective behavior not only impacts local cultures, ecosystems, and social order, but it does so on a global scale with serious impact on natural and human resources.

Although the research note has clear bias towards providing public policy recommendations, the authors did not neglect to draw attention to the need for academic disciplines (and researchers) to adapt to the fast-changing world. For instance, the authors find that the traditional peer-review process might be too slow to tackle the new challenges and that both changes to that system and the adoption of new pathways, such as “multiinstitution and interdisciplinary collaboration” might be needed. Specifically, the authors recommend that universities embrace and adopt changes through funding allocations, hiring plans, and tenure and promotion standards.

This paper is a breakthrough contribution to the slow-to-adapt academia that faces headwinds impacting not only the way universities produce and disseminate knowledge, but also the way institutions fund their activities, which has consequential effect on the former. However, the authors of this paper seem to understate or overlook few things.

For instance, the authors claim that researchers lack the scientific framework needed to answer the “most basic questions that technology companies and their regulators face” like the impact of a given algorithm on spreading misinformation. This topic is important because it is at the center of the authors recommendation for creating the “crisis discipline” and new value system—akin to “the Hippocratic oath”—applicable to both researchers and leaders of media companies.

As it stands, the answer to whether algorithms are connected to the spread of misinformation is already known. In fact, algorithms may have been designed to do what they do with that goal in mind. Commercial social media platforms are systems of generating and growing wealth, not designed to produce fact-based knowledge and reliable information—the task of researchers and research institutions. Regulators and legislators, too, could commission studies of the algorithms and enact policies and ordinances that mitigate the harm caused by business practices relying on algorithms.

The authors of the paper seem to side-step the fact that all activities and events are outcomes of systems—businesses, government agencies, universities, and other natural and mechanical entities operate according to systems. Importantly, as the growing body of evidence and the recent pandemic have shown, systems are intra- and interconnected, whereby the outcome of one influences the other be it on small or large scale, immediately or latently. It is a form of burden-shifting, or, more precisely in this case, a form of outsourcing of duties, to expect a social media company to steward our collective behavior in an ethical manner, especially if the adoption of such ethical norms were to diminish or decrease the wealth of shareholders. Societies should not entrust the wellbeing of communities, especially the most vulnerable ones, to companies designed to produce wealth.

Indeed, technology companies may refuse or resist sharing their “secrets,” such as algorithms, with independent researchers. Government agencies, however, possess a plurality of tools that would force them to do so or risk breakup under existing anti-trust laws or other legal or public policy regimes. Moreover, it is rarely the case that regulators are faced with binary choices such as, should social media exist. Most often, there are choices that balance public good and free enterprises. If there are aspects of social media that are needed by all (a necessary public interest), regulators can separate the elements that are necessary for public good from the legitimate commercial aspects; the former can be entrusted to non-profit management and the latter could be run by commercial entities and open to competition.

It is laudable indeed that the authors are calling on research institutions and universities to make the necessary changes to meet the challenges produced by globalism and advances in communication technologies. However, their emphasis on the creation of a “crisis discipline” obscures their more practical recommendation for more collaboration among researchers across disciplines. Importantly, more emphasis should be placed on encouraging researchers from the social sciences and the humanities to embrace the Systems Thinking Framework (STF) to interrupt the fragmentation of knowledge, to benefit from the settled knowledge produced by biological and mechanical sciences, and to stimulate meaningful collaboration. Integrated knowledge in research guided by the Systems Thinking Framework is a step beyond the outdated interdisciplinary endeavors.  Human societies are by far the most complex systems. Notwithstanding the complexity of social groups and social behavior, embracing and deploying the Systems Thinking Framework will allow researchers and scholars to address emerging crises efficiently, rapidly, and holistically.

A last point of critique: for a paper that is written collaboratively and that addresses a global problem, the list of authors alone unmasks the lack of appreciation of true diversity, which is the foundation of the new understanding and application of human rights norms. Many researchers still consider Western universities and Western researchers, alone, as capable of producing the kind of insight that can solve modern problems. A growing body of scientific literature and datasets are showing that we can learn from indigenous communities and their relationship to the environment and their way of extracting needed resources from nature. The omission of perspectives from outside Western societies is shortsighted and perpetuates the inequality, human rights abuses, and discriminatory biases that have been reproduced by the same systems and institutions that originated them.

 

Purchase on: Publisher's Site

Approved by Prof. Souaiaia

AHMED E. SOUAIAIA (pronounced sway-`iyya) is a faculty member at the University of Iowa, with joint appointment in International Studies, Religious Studies, History, and College of Law.

View all reviews by Prof. Souaiaia →
  • Tweet
Tagged under: collective behavior, environment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

en English
af Afrikaansam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanibn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianzh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausahi Hindiid Indonesianit Italiankk Kazakhku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzms Malayml Malayalammy Myanmar (Burmese)ps Pashtofa Persianpt Portuguesepa Punjabiru Russianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilitg Tajiktr Turkishur Urduuz Uzbek


Subscribe for HUQUQ updates

Receive updates and alerts about breaking events

Loading

  • Study: Britain used one of its medical schools as a colonial institution
  • Towards a global alliance to compensate for colonialism and its crimes
  • PERKEMBANGAN POLITIK HUKUM ISLAM PASCA REFORMASI DALAM PERSPEKTIF NEGARA HUKUM HANS KELSEN
  • Poverty Law and Equality Rights: Preliminary Reflections


HUQUQ Review of Books

  • About HUQUQ Review of Books
  • For Authors & Publishers
  • Add a Book Review
  • Read Recent Reviews
  • Book Reviews Index

Document Categories


Stewardship of global collective behavior Human Rights in Global Health: Rights-Based Governance for a Globalizing World The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings Achieving Human Rights The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority

Answer Questions

  • Sharia and human rights
  • Meaning of huquq
  • Rights in Quran
  • Human Rights in Islam
  • Risalah al-Huquq

Trending Bookreview Topics

Aggression Apartheid and Segregation Capitalism collective behavior Colonialism Economics environment Eugenics Exploitation Human Rights Indigenous peoples Rights Indonesia Islamic Law Reform Legitimacy Migration Nationalism Poverty Property rights Public Health Racism Remedial Justice Sharia Torture Uyghurs War Crimes Woman Rights


Listing of Research Works

  • Index of scholarly works
  • Add Listing
  • Index of scholarly works

Listing of NGOs

  • Global Directory
  • Add Listing



HUQUQ | HOME

HUQUQ

Translation

Book Reviews

Review of recent works of scholarship on human right

  • About HUQUQ Review of Books
  • For Authors & Publishers
  • Add a Book Review
  • Read Recent Reviews
  • Book Reviews Index

Articles Menu

  • Research
  • Journal
  • Announcements
  • Essays
  • In The News

QUESTION & ANSWER

Discuss topics of general interests or ask specific questions in public or in private settings

  • Q Profiles
  • Ask Question
  • Questions

Global Directory

  • Global Directory
  • Add Listing

RESEARCH INDEX

Index of work of scholarship relevant to human rights

Works of Scholarship Index

  • Index of scholarly works
  • Add Listing
  • Index of scholarly works

Members Area

  • Members
  • Register
  • Dashboard
  • Login or Register
  • Logout

Translate site

en English
af Afrikaansam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanibn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianzh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausahi Hindiid Indonesianit Italiankk Kazakhku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzms Malayml Malayalammy Myanmar (Burmese)ps Pashtofa Persianpt Portuguesepa Punjabiru Russianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilitg Tajiktr Turkishur Urduuz Uzbek

Search

GET YOUR ORGANIZATION ONLINE
Copyright ©  HUQUQ.com. All rights reserved.
TOP