With points of departure in philosophy, logic, social psychology, economics, and choice and game theory, Infostorms shows how information may be used to improve the quality of personal decision and group thinking but also warns against the informational pitfalls which modern information technology may amplify: From science to reality culture and what it really is, that makes you buy a book like this. The information society is upon us. New technologies have given us back pocket libraries, online discussion forums, blogs, crowdbased opinion aggregators, social media and breaking news wherever, whenever. But are we more enlightened and rational because of it?  Infostorms provides the nuts and bolts of how irrational group behaviour may get amplified by social media and information technology. If we could be collectively dense before, now we can do it at light speed and with potentially global reach. Thats how things go viral, that is how cyberbullying, rude comments online, opinion bubbles, status bubbles, political polarisation and a host of other everyday unpleasantries start. Infostorms will give the story of the mechanics of these phenomena. This will help you to avoid them if you want or learn to start them if you must. It will allow you to stay sane in an insane world of information.

With this brilliant book, we have been warned. It is up to all of us in the world today to be stewards of he common resource that is trustworthy and relevant information.

Adam Brandenburger, Stern School of Business, NYU It is a highly recommended read for social scientists and concerned citizens alike.

Christian List, London School of Economics

VincentF. Hendricks is Professor of Formal Philosophy at The University ofCopenhagen. He is Director of the Center for Information and Bubble Studies(CIBS) sponsored by the Carlsberg Foundation and was awarded theElite Research Prize by the DanishMinistry of Science, Technology and Innovation and theRoskilde Festival Elite Research Prize both in 2008. He wasEditor-in-Chief ofSynthese: AnInternational Journal for Epistemology, Methodology and Philosophy of Sciencebetween 2005-2015.

PelleGuldborg Hansen is Behavioral Researcher at Roskilde University;Director ofISSP The Initiative of Science, Society&Policy at Roskilde University and University of Southern Denmark; andmember of the Prevention Council of the Danish Diabetes Association. He alsoheads the independent research group iNudgeYou and is chairman of the DanishNudging Network and co-founder of TEN The European Nudge Network.

Chapter 1: Off We Go

1.1 Social Psychology on Speed

1.2 Information vs. Knowledge

1.3 Side-Tracking and Manipulation

1.4 Individual Search and Social Proof

1.5 Parts and Parcels

 

Part 1: How Information Technologies May Amplify Irrational GroupBehavoir

 

Chapter 2: Common Knowledge and Public Space

2.1 The Day Public Space Sold Out

2.2 More than the Opposite of Private

2.3 Public Announcements and Infinite Knowledge

2.4 Notions of Group Knowledge

2.5 Public Space as a Fundamental Informational Structure

2.6 The Social Power of Public Space

2.7 Techno-Ideological Pickets

2.8 Public Space and Online Status

 

Chapter 3: Pluralistic Ignorance and Bystanders

3.1 Computer City

3.2 Todays Lesson: Pluralistic Ignorance

3.3 Pluralistic Ignorance and the Bystander Effect

3.4 The Recipe for Bystander-Effects

3.5 Cyber Bullying The Case of Amanda Todd

3.6 The Frailty of Ignorance

 

Chapter 4: Informational Cascades and Lemmings

4.1 Air France, Delta Airlines and Terminals

4.2 Amazon and Sex and the City

4.3 The Nuts And Bolts of Cascades

4.4 Status Economics

4.5 A Decisive Piece of Information

4.6 True Disciples and Disbelievers

4.7 Infostorms in a Connected World

 

Part Ii: Why Free Choice, Markets and Deliberation Cannot Protect Us

 

Chapter 5: Choice: Framing Choice

5.1 "Like" It or Not?

5.2 Framing Approval

5.3 Choosing Between Life and Death

5.4 Framing a Problem

5.5 Risky Insurance

5.6 Fumbles in Frames

5.7 Information in a New Key

5.8 The Art of Framing Democracy

 

Chapter 6: Markets: Choosing Frames

6.1 The Invisible Hands of Democracy

6.2 Positive Freedom

6.3 The Relevance of Self-Determination

6.4 Political Freedom and Individual Choice

6.5 Walking the Dog at Night

6.6 Individual Choice and Climate Negotiations

6.7 Market Competition and Tour De France

6.8 Ulysses and the Song of the Sirens

 

Chapter 7: Deliberation: Polarized People

7.1. Trouble Either Way

7.2 Deliberating to the Extreme

7.3 Gnomes and People Like Us

7.4 The Brass Tacks of Polarization

7.5 I Want To Be Just Like You All

7.6 Group Polarization and Individual Marginalization

7.7 I Cant Read You Online

7.8 Dissolving Divarication

7.9 Deliberative Democratic Systems

7.10 Echo Chambers and Stomping Grounds

7.11 Deaf, Blind and Mute

 

Chapter 8: The Constitutive Games We Play

8.1 Decision Frames

8.2 Blood Money

8.3 Inferring Micro-Motives from Macro-Behavior

8.4 Riots and Ghettos

8.5 Why Democracy is not just One Vote

8.6 Mistaking Society for a Company

 

Part 3: Wars, Bubbles and Democracy

 

Chapter 9: Wars

 

9.1 Just Another Day at the Office

9.2 Quicksand at the Bus Stop

9.3 The Logic of Death Tolls

9.4 Taking a Hammering at the Auction

9.5 A Lemon Market for Apples

9.6 Zombies in Vegas

9.7 Escaping the One-Armed Bandit in Afghanistan

9.8 In the Pocket of Taliban

 

Chapter 10: Bubbles

10.1 Bubble Trouble

10.2 Bubble Sorts

10.3 Science Bubbles

10.4 Status Bubbles

10.5. Enough About Me, What About You, What Do You Think Of Me?

10.6 What Is It With "Likes"?

10.7 Opinion in Excess

10.8 Opinion on The Market

10.9 Noise Traders and Noisemakers

10.10 Bubble-Hospitable Environments

 

Chapter 11: Democracy

11.1 Taking Stock

11.2 Yesterdays Democracy

11.3 "That's Just Unacceptable!"

11.4 Post-Factual Democracy

11.5 True Democracy

11.6 Democracy in the Process

11.7 Macro- and Micro Control Problems

11.8 Short Summary

 

 

Part 4: Postscript: The Social Power Of Information Architecture

 

Chapter 12: The Social Powers of Infostorms

12.1 Irans Twitter Revolution

12.2 The Arab Spring of Infostorms

12.3 Peep Shows and Revolutions At $9.99

12.4 The Golden Shield and the Great Wall of Fire

12.5 Stabilizing Forces of Quasi-Democracies

12.6 The Western Puzzle of Truth and Information

12.7 The Gatekeepers of Truth and Information Architects

12.8 The Art and Science of Information Architecture