The well-tempered tweet: Least hate tweets at 15-18 °C (59-65°F) across the USA:
Temperatures above or below a feel-good window of 12-21 degrees Celsius (54-70 °F) are linked to a marked rise in aggressive online behaviour across the USA, a new study finds. Analysing billions of tweets posted on the social media platform Twitter in the USA, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found hate speech increasing across climate zones, income groups and belief systems for temperatures too hot or too cold. This indicates limits to adaptation to extreme temperatures, and sheds light on a yet underestimated societal impact of climate change: conflict in the digital sphere with implications for both societal cohesion and mental health.
[...] Across the USA, the authors found low levels of hate tweets in a 'feel-good window' of 12-21°C (54-70 °F); the minimum of hate tweets is reached for temperatures between 15 and 18°C (59-65°F) . Temperatures hotter and colder are linked to increases in hate tweets. The precise feel-good temperature window varies a little across climate zones, depending on what temperatures are common. Temperatures above 30°C, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit, are however consistently linked to strong increases in online hate across all climate zones and socioeconomic differences such as income, religious beliefs or political preferences.
Journal Reference:
Annika Stechemesser, Anders Levermann, Leonie Wenz. Temperature impacts on hate speech online: evidence from four billion tweets [open]. (2022) The Lancet Planetary Health. DOI: 10.1016/PIIS2542-5196(22)00173-5
(Score: 2, Interesting) by thatsme on Saturday September 17 2022, @02:06PM (5 children)
I've often wondered why societies in temperate latitudes seemed to develop more, and this study suggests extreme temperatures lead to more fighting instead of working together. Obviously there are resource issues as well.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2022, @06:38AM (3 children)
What was the climate like in ancient Mesopotamia? I think it was probably warmer than 21C in the daytime.
India had ancient civilizations in warm places - ain't no hunter gatherers carving this, think of the tech involved (where did the carved/dug out rocks go?): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kailasa_Temple,_Ellora [wikipedia.org] https://youtu.be/E23s8MmSjuQ [youtu.be] https://youtu.be/k1SE25mURhc [youtu.be] . The Americas and Africa had a number too. Egypt, Sudan/Nubia, Ethiopia and the Mayan region were pretty warm.
(Score: 1) by thatsme on Sunday September 18 2022, @03:37PM (2 children)
"was" , "was" , "had" , "ancient" , "had" , "were" - all past tense. as soon as people could reliably keep themselves warm and fed in cooler climates societies thrived and developed there, whereas civilizations in the warmer regions stagnated or crumbled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2022, @02:14PM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by thatsme on Wednesday September 21 2022, @08:35PM
good point, I'll check back here in a few thousand years to continue the discussion
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 18 2022, @01:27PM
Back in the 1970s and earlier, long hot summers were considered high risk for riots... cheap A/C is good for suppressing social unrest, when you've got A/C it's just too hot outside to go and riot (although, I noticed a lot of riot activity happens at night...)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 17 2022, @02:12PM (17 children)
Good thing we have scientists researching the obvious. Seriously, how many riots have you seen in the dead of winter? Sports events, street gangs, local feuds, all that stuff slows down in the cold part of the year. Springtime comes, and it starts warming up again, so that when summer arrives, the activists can stir the shit up again. Remember the "Summer of Love"? People who make a living stirring the pot know how these things work. Government knows it as well, which is part of the reason we hold elections in November. Riots at the polls are not conducive to the democratic process.
(Score: 3, Touché) by helel on Saturday September 17 2022, @02:54PM (4 children)
If your interpretation were correct we'd expect to see "riots" in the winter and summer and they'd let off around the equinoxes.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:04PM (2 children)
That below isn't part of my statement, or my interpretation. Temps below 54 degrees may or may not contribute to bitterness and shit-talking, but it is not conducive to violence. Witness the fact that armies all through history have found sheltered places, such as Valley Forge during the Revolutionary war. Spring, or preferably late spring, sees a new campaign launched from those sheltered places. Being cold and/or wet makes you want to sit by the fire, roasting hot dogs or something.
(Score: 2) by helel on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:12PM (1 child)
I think you're mistaking "lack of snow" for "conducive to violence." You don't march an army in the winter because they'll freeze in the snow and you don't march them in early spring because they'll get stuck in the mud. It's got nothing to do with wanting to sit around a fire and everything to do with the practicality of running a supply chain.
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:16PM
Alpine troops manage well enough in the winter. Of course, alpine troops aren't drawn from the general population. You have to be rather elite to even be considered.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:30PM
My take is that as the weather becomes more adverse, the mean people stay indoors and go mean on the internet. I see this as a good thing. Online hate > offline hate. As a prediction, I wager we would see this effect in rainy weather too.
TL;DR when it gets nasty outside people go inside and do inside stuff.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Opportunist on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:29PM (10 children)
You might want to explain what happened a while ago on the 6th of January.
(Score: -1, Insightful) by Captival on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:52PM (2 children)
Pretty much nothing except a dozen people got convicted of trespassing. That's really about it.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 17 2022, @04:17PM (1 child)
They were greeted as liberators, I heard, by Josh Hawley.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2022, @02:28PM
I tried to ask him about that, but I couldn't catch him because he was running for the exit.
(Score: 5, Funny) by sgleysti on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:01PM
It was either true American patriots engaging in legitimate political discourse or a false flag operation by Antifa and Black Lives Matter, but I can't remember which it was.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:12PM (5 children)
A protest happened on 1/6/21. A relatively small portion of that protest turned violent, and a couple hundred out of the tens of thousands actually committed various crimes. There was no coup, and there was very little violence. There was less violence at the capitol than there was in Kenosha that one night when Kyle Rittenhouse became an American hero.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:53PM
You have to excuse me for interpreting events quite differently from you. But I have no skin in the game and can look on from outside.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 17 2022, @11:11PM
Tens of thousands? Still estimating a la inaugurations? Whatever the size, I will agree that it is probably the largest insurrection mob ever assembled at the Capitol.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Mykl on Sunday September 18 2022, @01:41AM (2 children)
The coup was less about the protestors actually taking control of the country, and more about the plans that Team Trump has set up for when the protestors burst in:
- Get Mike Pence out of the way so that a more compliant person could step in and rule against the electors for Democratically won states (or states won by Democrats, your choice)
- Install alternate electors
Trump needed the proceedings to be halted so that he could inject his agents and enact his plan.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 18 2022, @01:29PM (1 child)
Lol, that's what you really believe?
If you get pence out of the way and stop proceedings, you don't need to play with alternate electors. It also assumes people listen to you.
The problem is Trump really didn't have a plan beyond get a bunch of protesters to DC. All those things were other people's plans on how not to keep Biden. Trump actually hung all the people who spent their own money to go to DC out to dry.
Then he condemned them while pardoning drug charges from rappers and crooked politicians.
Trump is at the same time a cunning dangerous mastermind dictator and a bumbling old buffoon with cognitive decline. Just like the AR15 is a dangerous weapon of war but at the same time too weak to overthrow the government. Republicans are fascists but take your shot, don't spread "misinformation" and obey our edicts unquestioningly.
The Aristocrats! or should I say The "Progressives".
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Sunday September 18 2022, @09:24PM
I'll take option B.
Trump is not, and never was, smart enough to come up with the coup plan. The cunning plan was not created by him, but by the people who work for him. The only things he has going for him are:
- Inherited money
- No shame whatsoever
- The ability to somehow fool people into working for him despite decades of evidence showing that people who do so invariably end up worse off
(Score: -1, Spam) by tsubashi_irinai on Sunday September 18 2022, @01:51AM
Remember that one time that Runaway's AC broke, and he started rioting and typing all kinds of racist and anti-semitic and misogynist crap?
(Score: -1, Troll) by garrulus on Saturday September 17 2022, @02:22PM
anti european peoples climate nonsense
(Score: 3, Funny) by rigrig on Saturday September 17 2022, @03:33PM (1 child)
Obviously they've got it the wrong way round: Hate speech causes weather extremes. Probably some minor meteorological deities finally made it onto the internet, and got upset by all the mindless trolling going on.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday September 17 2022, @04:05PM
No, no, it's our language. Has almost magical power with some people. We talk of "hot heads", "hot tempers", "heated argument", "cooling down", "chilling out", and in all sorts of other ways link temperature with temper in our language. And it's always hot linked to anger, fighting, and war, and cold linked to peace or at least a truce.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RamiK on Saturday September 17 2022, @04:01PM (2 children)
This should be fun.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by srobert on Saturday September 17 2022, @04:48PM (1 child)
I'll make the popcorn.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:23PM
Just don't make it near the police or you might end up dead when they mistake the popping sounds for gunshots.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by srobert on Saturday September 17 2022, @04:53PM (2 children)
I live in Las Vegas. 95 degrees with 2% humidity is a beautiful day with friendly people all around. Contrast this with the time I spent in South Carolina where 84 degrees makes you want to kill someone.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 17 2022, @05:11PM
What was the temp when that wacko shot into the concert crowd from his hotel window?
Oh, yeah, he was in air conditioning, so probably 65F (they keep things cool in 'Vegas).
(Score: 1) by zion-fueled on Sunday September 18 2022, @01:31PM
I can deal with 100s in low humidity. Mid 80s with 80-90% and you feel sticky-icky.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Username on Saturday September 17 2022, @06:34PM
German activists investigating climate change through hate speech on an american leftist online platform that is 90% bots with the remaining 10% that are wealthy enough to afford air conditioned housing.
Didn't RTFA, but I assume they found that climate change is bad and anything republicans say is hate speech?
(Score: 1) by UncleBen on Monday September 19 2022, @02:08PM
For what it's worth cooling wear* is not optional for sports requiring heavy protective clothing. Getting overheated both literally and emotionally while doing something dangerous can be a fatal hit on the person's attention budget.
Also, we need to learn/use about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-bulb_globe_temperature [wikipedia.org] and teach our non-nerd friends and family.
*Frequently scarves, vests, helmet liners with methods for storing water to keep damp, evaporating materials near the skin.