Looking for some links now! Came across this concept about 18 months ago in a textbook called Social Network Analysis for Startups.
From my notes:
On Conflict Propagation:
* Conflict between B and C forces A to take sides.
* If A sides with B, then conflict between A and C forces D to take sides.
* If D sides with A instead of C, it keep conflict from arising in the rest of the network, but if D sides with A it will force E to take sides and so on.
* Having more ties increases an agent’s probability of forming even more ties, but it also increases the probability that a conflict between two agents will spread throughout the network, as their decision to side on any side of the conflict can spiral downward.
* So just as there is a critical mass that causes tie density to grow exponentially, there is also a critical mass value on the upper end of density (self-organized criticality) that prevents it from growing further because the increased density leads to greater conflicts that bring the density back down.
* Similarly, the more dense a forest is, the greater the catastrophe. This is why permitting smaller fires down-regulates the density of the forest to insure that most fires are well contained.
Super interesting take. There is a similar discussion about Self-Imposed Criticality in dynamic systems such as personal networks, that I've found to be very revealing about the nature of disintegrating relational connections. Really enjoyed this read! Thanks for posting.
From my notes:
On Conflict Propagation:
* Conflict between B and C forces A to take sides.
* If A sides with B, then conflict between A and C forces D to take sides.
* If D sides with A instead of C, it keep conflict from arising in the rest of the network, but if D sides with A it will force E to take sides and so on.
* Having more ties increases an agent’s probability of forming even more ties, but it also increases the probability that a conflict between two agents will spread throughout the network, as their decision to side on any side of the conflict can spiral downward.
* So just as there is a critical mass that causes tie density to grow exponentially, there is also a critical mass value on the upper end of density (self-organized criticality) that prevents it from growing further because the increased density leads to greater conflicts that bring the density back down.
* Similarly, the more dense a forest is, the greater the catastrophe. This is why permitting smaller fires down-regulates the density of the forest to insure that most fires are well contained.