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A study published earlier this month in the journal Science Advances examines the effects of onymity – that is, the opposite of anonymity – on Chinese students in a classic two-player social experiment in which the most rational choice is betrayal. What researchers found, however, seems to defy rationality: Participants who learned each other's names opted for cooperation over treachery.
In an age marked by xenophobia and political polarization, studying onymity may offer insight into practical ways of helping strangers get along. This particular study suggests that even small steps toward getting to know one another can bring big benefits for society as a whole, whether it's in a town hall meeting, on a jammed roadway, or in an online discussion forum.
"Since the spirit of cooperation that social cohesion is based upon is crumbling away in some places, be it on Facebook or in societies that are about to be torn apart about issues such as immigration, we sought insight into what enhances cooperation," said co-author Jürgen Kurths from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, who contributed statistical analyses, in a statement.
No self-respecting geek would ever cooperate with others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @01:18PM (2 children)
You've identified other factors, but mostly it's the economy.
When the economy is doing well, people are more amenable to welfare programs, accepting refugees, etc etc. For example, the only way we'll see single payer in the US is if the economy starts roaring like in the 1950s. I know that's counterintuitive to most here, because if that happened, there'd be an increase in "I've got mine, fuck you" internet tough guys.
But internet tough guys don't really predict what the masses are going to do. How many people here use TwitFace on a daily basis? That's what I thought. (And I agree with y'all, imo anybody who uses TwitFace is well a twit but I'm not the masses.)
When the economy goes south, that's when partisanship, xenophobia, racism, and every other form of human tribalism you can imagine is on the rise. It's always somebody else's fault, which makes sense, because who here stopped working hard? None of us did, so none of us can possibly be at fault. Yet bad shit is happening, so it must be somebody's fault.
The only thing names have to do with it as far as I can tell is informing the subconscious who's part of the tribe and who's somebody else. If you know somebody's name, you might also know that they're a hard worker. This is something like the phenomenon of the black guy everybody who's not a racist knows and can vouch for. That black guy is part of the tribe, but all those other blacks, well I don't know, they're from Umofia and womanly (q.v. href [wikipedia.org]) and stuff, so it must be their fault.
Incidentally, the elites know this as well. They won't let us have nice things like sensible, fact-based policies and a stable, sustainable economy because if we had those things, we might start doing things that would threaten the very existence of the modern aristocracy. Instead they can easily keep us fighting amongst ourselves by crashing the stock market every now and then, like back in '08, like the other examples that came up in discussion yesterday, and again this fall.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Thursday April 27 2017, @03:05PM (1 child)
I'll agree with you on the economy aspect to a certain degree. But the point is that the immigration this time has a whole lot different characteristic with a hell bent agenda on subjugation and worse. Which is part of why people change opinion in these matters regardless of economic factors.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @08:24PM
Actually, not so much. Just about every wave of immigration to America has had a backlash of naysayers warning of gloom and doom if we let "those people" into "our country". The differences between now and then is a whole lot less than you apparently think.