Juliana RotichJan 6
Paul Kedrosky
The current wave of polarization in developed economies more or less began with mass adoption of the Internet, then reached escape velocity with the rise of social media.
Jan 5 at 11:39pmWeb
Show threadAaron Toponce ⚛️Jan 5
@paul A cynic such as myself might also note the US polarization seems coincidentally timed to the election of a black man.
Show threadPaul KedroskyJan 6
It was definitely. how shall I say, overdetermined.
Show threadwbftwJan 6
@paul @codinghorror that seems like a good example that correlation doesn’t imply causation.
Show threadNick RadcliffeJan 6

@paul @timbray This chart is a Bezos chart despite numbers on the axis. Explaining directionality is not enough. How is polarization measured? What is negative polarization?

However ‘polarization’ is defined, it feels like it should be a ratio quantity; negative values feel very strange and might lead the reader to suspect that it’s a made-up or ill-conceived measure.

Show threadTiTiNoNero Jan 6
@paul it seems more like a correlation.
Show threadPaul KedroskyJan 6
You can't prove causality, of course, but I'm not the first to point out the relationshp and its plausible mechanisms.
Show threadTiTiNoNero Jan 6
@paul Yep, but causal factors may be hundreds and well hidden until a model is proposed.
Show threadPaul KedroskyJan 6
It is definitely over-determined, but it would be startling and historically unusual if connective technologies hadn't played a significant role.