The post below on the Marxmail List looks relevant to the discussions concerning social media that have been going on here on LBO-Talk.
Jim Farmelant http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant www.foxymath.com Learn or Review Basic Math
--------- Forwarded message ---------- From: dave x <dave.xx at gmail.com> Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:16:29 -0800 Subject: Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Wikileaks was (no subject)
Graph theory is a branch of mathematics that dates back to to the 18th century with Euler and the Konigsberg bridge problem. Network theory is basically various extensions of graph theory into real world applications. I suggest wikipedia-ing these terms if you are curious and want to know more about the history. Basically graph theory deals with 'nodes' (which are points) and 'edges' (which are lines which connect the points). As a theory it is fundamental to much of computer science and is increasingly important in other domains. The internet is built on various graph traversal algorithms and can be modeled as a graph. Facebook and Twitter are great examples of graphs/networks where users are nodes and friendships/follows are edges. The military and CIA for example has spent a lot of money on graph theory as they believe it can be used to model terrorist networks, figure out which individuals represent key nodes, how to get the network to collapse, etc. JA's theory basically applies this idea to the ruling class and uses it to suggest strategies that will weaken them. His suggestion is basically that by imposing a 'secrecy tax' the cost of edge traversal in the graph will increase causing it to be less efficient and seriously degrading the quality of the network. Graph theory is also why Malcolm Gladwell is an idiot in his 'revolution will not be tweeted' article and why social networking technology is potentially socially explosive. He claims that because social networking generates a large number of weak ties that its social impact is fundamentally limited. However the opposite is actually the case. Large numbers of weak ties are a characteristic of very strong graphs. So social networking technology can actually function as a much better than linear multiplier for existing human connection and solidarity. An interesting project might be to try using graph theory to help give and explanation of variation in class struggle over time. For example as capitalism concentrates workers in industrial centers it generates very strong social networks among the proletariat which in turn generates collective struggle. On the other hand when capitalism starts to break up the big industrial centers and moves people out into isolated suburbs, office parks and strip malls, switches from collective public to very individualized private modes of transportation (the car/highway system) it basically wrecks these networks and they collapse. A thought anyways. comradely, dave ____________________________________________________________ Globe Life Insurance $1* Buys $50,000 Life Insurance. Adults or Children. No Medical Exam. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4d587878afe3e25da91st03vuc