THE WORLD THROUGH ROSE-COLORED BLINDERS: A NEW MATHEMATICAL
MODEL FOR HOW SOCIETY BECOMES POLARIZED
Engineering researchers at Stanford University have devised
a mathematical model that helps demonstrate what’s behind the growing rift in
American society. They have used the knowledge to create Internet-based social
systems that counteract polarization.
Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes watching some
of the more partisan “news” networks lurking in the bowels of cable television
is aware that America has grown more polarized in recent years. What’s not so
certain is why. In a paper published online March 27 in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of researchers at Stanford has
devised a mathematical model that helps demonstrate what’s behind the growing
rift.