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Oft times we see accusations of "group think" here on SoylentNews. Now there is some actual science on the formation and function of "echo chambers", as reported by SESYNC:
A new study from researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) demonstrates that the highly contentious debate on climate change is fueled in part by how information flows throughout policy networks.
...
"Our research shows how the echo chamber can block progress toward a political resolution on climate change. Individuals who get their information from the same sources with the same perspective may be under the impression that theirs is the dominant perspective, regardless of what the science says," said Dr. Dana R. Fisher, a professor of sociology at UMD and corresponding author who led the research.
I would guess, based on this study abstract (actual paper unfortunately behind paywall), that SoylentNews is in no danger of becoming an echo chamber, but we seem to have some refugees who are still stuck in particular bubbles.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:27AM
I have to say, in agreement with poster in a thread a day or two ago, that this tendency to just post a link to a video on youtube without comment is not to be encouraged. A bit more of a description? Some reason to actually spend time looking at it? That said, that video was damn funny, and I say that as someone with more than a casual knowledge of automatic transmissions.