Letters Remain

Tag: trends

  • How Trends Actually Spread; or, Six Degrees but No Connectors

    The small sample size of Stanley Milgram’s small world experiment means that the theory of ‘six degrees of separation’ and the conclusion drawn from it–primarily, the Influential’s theory popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point–could be deeply flawed. That was the starting point for Duncan Watts‘ research that led him to say “the Tipping Point is…

  • Adoption and Abandonment of Tools and Ideas

    Jason’s post discussing economist Lant Pritchett’s thoughts on how people perceive ‘game-changing ideas’ over time Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Obvious. Or, more eloquently: Silly, controversial, progressive, then obvious. reminded me of research on the rise and fall of an item’s popularity that found the fall mirrored the rise. According to the results, the quicker a cultural…