Conflicts, Bounded Rationality and Collective Wisdom in a Networked Society

J. Francisco Álvarez. UNED. Madrid. Spain jalvarez@fsof.uned.es @alvarezuned

http://es.slideshare.net/FALVAREZUNED

Language is not just a complex communication system Dascal, Marcelo. "Language as a cognitive technology." International Journal of Cognition and Technology 1.1 (2002): 35-61. Mirolli, Marco, and Domenico Parisi. "Language as a cognitive tool." Minds and Machines 19.4 (2009): 517-528.

“ Strategic uses of argument” by Jon Elster, 1992

Arrow, K. J. et al. Barriers to conflict resolution. WW Norton & Company, 1995.

Language more than means to codify and transmit information

Silences, rhetorical components, direct lies, white or altruistic lies, are incorporated into the social use of language as persuasive tool which constitute a large part of our communicative practices

The  truth  is,  we  all  lie  -­‐  and  by  ‘we,’  we  mean  everyone!  

Is it smart to be rational?

 “we  don’t  cheat  and  steal  as  much  as  we  would  if  we  were  

perfectly  ra=onal  and  acted  only  in  our  own  self-­‐interest”.  Ariely,  

Dan  (2012)  The  (Honest)  Truth  About  Dishonesty:  How  We  Lie  to  

Everyone  –  Especially  Ourselves.  

"¿Es   inteligente   ser   racional?"   Álvarez,   J.   Francisco,   Sistema:  

Revista  de  ciencias  sociales  109  (1992):  73-­‐92.  

We need other view on human rationality

To   analyse   diverse   situa=ons   in   which   conflicts   emerge  apparently  as  a  result  of  mistakes  in  communica=ve  processes,  a  wider   no=on   of   our   concep=on   of   language   is   necessary,   one  more  extended  than  the  cost-­‐benefit  analysis  that  is  oTen  at  the  basis  of  much  theorizing  on  language  

Dascal, Marcelo (2004): "Argument, war and the role of the media in conflict management."

“Let us dub “Hard Reason” a conception of rationality that admits only the use of rigorously defined concepts, of experimentally controlled data, and of logically valid arguments. On this view, all solvable problems and disputes can be solved by strict adherence to the above requirements, which provide a decision procedure determining which side is right and which is wrong. ... Nevertheless, there are those who hold a conception of rationality that admits also the use of concepts that are not definable in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions, the occasional reliance upon data and propositions that are only presumably correct, ... and the existence of a variety of ways of resolving controversies which do not necessarily amount to a decision procedure. Let us dub this conception of rationality “Soft Reason”- Marcelo Dascal ., 2004

Dascal, Marcelo. "Language as a cognitive technology." International Journal of Cognition and Technology 1.1 (2002): 35-61

The   main   objec=ve   of   Dascal´s   proposal   is   “to   cri=cize   the  very   idea  of   communica=on  as  a  primary   func=on  of   language:  The   old   idea   that   language   serves   to   convey   thought   or   other  forms   of   cogni=ve   content,   but   need   not   play   any   role   in   the  forma=on  of  the  thoughts  it  conveys.”      

Bounded rational agents The  adop=on  of  a  formalis=c  and  individualis=c  perspec=ve  on  reasoning,  choice  and  decision  is  a  spring  of  paradoxes  and  conflicts,  because  agents  immersed  in  conflicts  are  drawn  or  modelled  as  ra=onal  individuals  with  well-­‐defined  targets  and  full  capabili=es  to  access  informa=on.  It  isn't  taken  into  account  (as  Herbert  Simon  has  said  long  =me  ago)  that  the  agents  don't  have  all  the  =me  needed,  their  capabili=es  of  calcula=on  and  memory  are  limited,  and  as  such  they  can't  make  their  preferences  be  taken  fully  into  considera=on.      

Amartya K. Sen “The  formula=on  of  maximizing  behaviour  in  economics  has  oTen  paralleled  the  modelling  of  maximiza=on  in    physics  and  related  disciplines.  But  maximizing  behaviour  differs  from  nonvoli=onal  maximizing    because  of  the  fundamental  relevance  of  the  choice  act,  which  has  to  be  placed  in  a  central  posi=on  in  analyzing  maximizing  behaviour”  (Sen,  1997,  p.  745)  Sen,  Amartya.  "Maximiza=on  and  the  Act  of  Choice."    Econometrica:  Journal  of  the  Econometric  Society  (1997):  745-­‐779.            

Buridan´s ass

“(i) maximization can save your life and (ii) only an ass will wait for optimization” (A.K. Sen)

The new social operating system

The intertwined society produces the affordances to facilitate expansion of collective wisdom built upon networked individualism

Álvarez, J Francisco. "Networked: The New Social Operating System by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman." Science and Public Policy 40.6 (2013): 823-824.

Networked individualism

Reputation and refutation as social components of interaction Dascal,  Marcelo.  "Reputa=on  and  refuta=on:  nego=a=ng  merit."  AMSTERDAM  STUDIES  IN  THE  THEORY  AND  HISTORY  OF  LINGUISTIC  SCIENCE  SERIES  4  (2001):  3-­‐18.  

Sperber, Dan et al. "Epistemic vigilance." Mind & Language 25.4 (2010): 359-393.    “No  act  of  communica=on  among  humans,  even  if  it  is  only  of  local  relevance  to  the  interlocutors  at  the  =me,  is  ever  totally  disconnected  from  the  flow  of  informa=on  in  the  whole  social  group”  (H.  Mercier  and  D.Sperber,  2010,  p.  379).    

To set conflicts on their feet 1)  Beyond false dilemmas and paradoxes. Reasoning

systems don´t begin in our heads and then settle into the earth.

2)  Tension between the interest of elites that enter into

conflict with the opinions of the masses provoke an authentic paradox of collective action.

Open government and crowd expertise  

Open   access   to   informa=on   and   ins=tu=onal   arrangements   directed  towards  team  knowledge  could  offer  other  kinds  of  tools  to  confront  conflict,  even  possible  benefits  which,  indirectly  and  not  wanted,  could  be  obtained  from  the  existence  of  the  conflict  itself.  

“Crowd  exper=se”  is  emerging  as  an  actual  possibility,  and  it  must  be  incorporated  to  confront  conflicts.  The  exper=se  func=on  works  in  delibera=ve,  argumenta=ve  and  mo=va=onal  contexts  and  courses  of  ac=on;  it  is  not  an  isolated  ac=vity.    

The masses as a source of collective intelligence “We   are   learning,   including   in   a   prac=cal  way,   that   the   grouping   of   human   beings  can   produce   results   we   didn't   expect   and  that,   as   a   product   of   the   interac=on,   the  ac=on   of   collec=ves   goes   much   further  than   the   capabili=es   that   each   one   of   its  members  has”.  Álvarez, J. F. (2014). La irrupción de las masas y la sabiduría colectiva (The inrushing of masses and the collective wisdom). Investigación y ciencia, (454), 50-51.

Madrid 15-M 2011

Collective Wisdom? “We allow that each individual knows less of these affairs than those who have given particular attention to them, yet when they come together they will know them better” Aristotle PolíYca  (III,  10,  1282a15)    “The diverse many are often smarter than a group of select elites because of the different cognitive tools, perspectives, heuristics, and knowledge they bring to political problem solving and prediction”(H. Landemore, 2014, “Yes, We Can (Make it up on Volume): Answers to Critics” Critical Review, 1-2, pág. 184 “The language a decision maker uses to verbalize his preferences restricts the set of preferences he may hold” (A. Rubinstein, 2000, Economics and Language, Cambridge U.P., p. 55)  

Collective Wisdom

Madrid 15-M

“Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot