A Discussion Relating Flocking Behavior, Social Constructivism and Educational Systems
We may not yet know how to combine oil and water but they are both liquids...
The culmination of my final Gaming and Simulation project in SL is the following observation and speculation. My initial focus was to discuss and determine how SL could be used to create an environment in which mob mentality or group think could be studied. Given the immersive and collaborative nature of the environment, simulating group behavior seemed reasonable. Dr. Gibson’s and class feedback on my original ideas refocused these thoughts about pure mob or group thought to look at groups having to do with “scientific” discovery. Many of the ideas about what constitutes scientific discovery were influenced by a book recommended by Dr. Gibson; The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn 1962. That is the discovery of and maintenance of constructs that are formalized in scientific discourse and its supporting literature. Among constructs that could be considered as potential study targets, include the nature of matter, learning as a social science, the “laws” of math and physics and the study of medicine and law, learning theory, instructional delivery and other similar fields. For that matter, virtually, any subject field that requires a well developed knowledge base that has been socially constructed by “subject matter experts” and maintained within a realm of incremental changes over a period of time and resists radical and significant change -
"closely examined, whether historically or in the contemporary laboratory, that enterprise [cleaning up the loose ends in normal science] seems an attempt to force nature into the preformed and relatively inflexible box that the paradigm supplies. No part of the aim of normal science is to call forth new sorts of phenomena; indeed those that will not fit the box are often not seen at all. Nor do scientists normally aim to invent new theories, and they are often intolerant of those invented by others." Kuhn, 1962 p.24
not only that, but challenges to long established scientific constructs is heartily resisted by all members or would be members of the group of subject matter experts in such a way as to manifest itself as group thinking or on the fringes, even a mob mentality of sorts (my assertion). If this be the case, what ability does an outside the box (group) thinker have of influencing current practice, research or new ideas within the established group and within the well developed, although hardly universally agreed upon constructs, presently maintained and held to be immutable by the group at large? And what is the requirement to be membered into such a group so as to be acceptable to the group and contribute to the maintenance of the sacred constructs but not disturb or change the construct sufficient enough to merit ejection from the group or mass ridicule by the other group members? And what resemblance to these groups or role does our educational system bear or play in the establishment of these “immutable” constructs and the acceptance in or banishment from the groups of those in non-conformance with the “consensus” of the group? Again, looking to Kuhn, 1962, p.11; he seems to spell out the requirements:
...to earn "membership in the particular scientific community with which he will later practice"... "Men whose research is based on shared paradigms are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice. That commitment and the apparent consensus it produces are prerequisites for normal science, i.e., for the genesis and continuation of a particular research tradition."
Ironically, it is the group member that disagrees with the group that often identifies new constructs, at odds with the greater group. This disagreement can have at least one of two extreme or at times lesser results - construct failure and isolation of the disagreeing group member; or construct success that changes the very underpinnings of the group, causing the group paradigm to change and possibly saving or rejuvenating the greater group.
"What, then, do Jim Watson and I deserve credit for? If we deserve any credit at all, it is for persistence and the willingness to discard ideas when they became untenable. One reviewer thought that we couldn't have been very clever because we went on so many false trails, but that is the way discoveries are usually made. Most attempts fail not because of lack of brains but because the investigator gets stuck in a cul-de-sac or gives up too soon." Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal, View of Scientific Discovery (1988) -Discovered the structure of DNA and received a Nobel prize
- In pure animal flock behavior, group behavior is safer than disagreeing or acting out of unison with the group - e.g. a herd of Zebras fleeing a pack of hyenas... the Zebra that can't keep up with the pack is likely to be pursued by multiple Hyenas until exhausted and ultimately eaten. The Zebras staying within the pack are more likely to survive to be chased again. In human group interaction we aren't often pursued by Hyenas but often other more serious events can have the same effect; i.e. pollution, scarcity of food, inflation and loss of personal liberties. Human safety is also often found within the confines of a larger group - rarely does a group hunkered down or on the run for safety sake make discoveries that would save the greater group from eventual peril. It is the dissenting group member thinking outside the confines of the group that seriously fails or occasionally succeeds to become the group's benefactor - I would argue that no member of a group ever proposed a significant solution to a group problem without first being criticized by some or all of the group and that mere membership in a collective group may impede the type of creativity necessary develop workable solutions to complex problems. Kevin Kelly, in Out of Control, 1994, chapter 2 at http://www.kk.org/outofcontrol/ch2-b.html seems to indicate as much when he states "A flock was once thought to be a decisive sign of life, some noble formation only life could achieve. Via Reynolds's algorithm it is now seen as an adaptive trick suitable for any distributed vivisystem, organic or made." Kelly's assertion came on the heels of discovering relatively simple computer algorithms that perfectly emulated flocking behavior among animated computer objects. Some quick research showed scripts also available for SL that implement flocking in mobile objects i.e. animated insects and other critters -
But eventually one of the pack will get past the stallion and begin to snap at a mare or a foal. As the chase relentlessly continues, one gets a tooth-hold on a leg or the belly or the genitals and the animal is dragged down. While the rest of the herd canters to safety, the hyenas leap on the fallen zebra, ripping it to pieces. Pasted from <http://planet.uwc.ac.za/nisl/biodiversity/Chapter2/page_266.htm>
Milgram's theory of conformism, based on Solomon Asch's work, describing the fundamental relationship between the group of reference and the individual person. A subject who has neither ability nor expertise to make decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the group and its hierarchy. The group is the person's behavioral model.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment>
"For an idea that does not at first seem insane, there is no hope." Albert Einstein
Second Life is one of these MUVEs. A handful of corporate customers have bought virtual space, called “islands,” in this virtual reality to use for “in world” meetings, and a growing number in this group is recruiting there, too. Linden Lab doesn’t keep statistics on how many of its corporate customers handle hiring this way, but it says the number has grown exponentially since Second Life began in 2003.
Much of the recruitment is done through job fairs. TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, an advertising firm in New York, held two virtual job fairs last year, events that included employers like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Verizon Communicationsand Sodexho, a food and facilities management services company. Bain & Company, the global management consultants in Boston, has sponsored virtual job fairs in Second Life, as well. Pasted from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/jobs/10pre.html?_r=4&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
