Group Coordination

January 29th, 2012
contra, singing
Contra dancing, flash mobs, group singing, and facebook birthdays. Doing the same thing as lots of others around you feels good it's own way, differently from most things we do. Watching a comedy in company where laughs compound. Gathering at a funeral to be together in grief. Feeling the words of a charismatic demagogue play the emotions of the crowd. While our thoughts don't actually merge with the group's [1] we move part of the way to being a single entity.


[1] The Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and Children of the Sky do this. I enjoyed both books a lot.

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

On AI writing in 2026

I use AI to write a little bit: I ask it for high level feedback on blog post drafts, make mechanical edits, and sometimes use it to brainstorm options for wording at a paragraph level. It’s unusual that I accept its wording or changes without modificatio…

via Home April 16, 2026

Some considerations on whether my job is evil

I. On an average weekend, only 1 in 20 Americans go to a party.

via Thing of Things April 14, 2026

Microfictions

A few microfictions, very much inspired by Quiet Pine Trees. I hope to add more over time. No LLMs.

via Evan Fields March 27, 2026

more     (via openring)