[P2P-F] Why all men are not created equal : Study on Social Hierarchy

[marc]

Hi Kevin & all,

The other thing which always gets me and it always made feel a bit 
uncomfortable - is, when I hear or see terms such as 'men' or 'man'.

It would be useful and less confusing if we actively moved on from these 
systemic forms of language based absolutes.

This type of approach in language tends to reintroduce immediate 
hierarchies. Reinforcing cultural divides between male, female and (of 
course) other genders.

wishing you well.

marc

> http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120713-why-all-men-are-not-created-equal/2
>
> "David-Barrett and Dunbar discover a particularly intriguing 
> implication for our information age. One of the important factors in 
> their model is the /cost/ of communication: how hard it is to exchange 
> information. It’s often suggested that by lowering the cost of 
> communication, electronic networking will make it easier for everyone 
> to access information and so will flatten the social hierarchy. The 
> researchers find that, if there is an initial inequality in how 
> information is distributed, lowering communication costs 
> counter-intuitively sustains this steep hierarchy and promotes 
> inequality. There’s less incentive to spread information around: you 
> can just keep on looking until you find it.
>
> If we want to avoid this effect of cheaper communication, they say, 
> then we’ll need ways of compensating for it – for example, by greater 
> social investment in education to disseminate knowledge. The web won’t 
> do it for us."
>
> I don't get this last bit -
>
> "There’s less incentive to spread information around: you can just 
> keep on looking until you find it."
>
> Does the author mean that because information is more abundant that 
> rather than actively sharing information we expect other people to 
> able to find it for themselves??
>
> Kevin
>
>
>
>
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