https://gwern.net Pages from gwern.net in the 'History & Sociology' section Sat, 07 Mar 2026 22:52:09 +0000 GwernRSSBuilder/1.0 https://gwern.net/internet-community-design https://gwern.net/internet-community-design Internet communities are multilevel selection systems across time-scales. Platforms fail when they privilege the stream and block promotion into durable memory. Good design builds explicit promotion pipelines from fast chat to slow, legible knowledge. Gwern Sun, 04 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000 2026-02-01T00:00:00Z essay sociology/small-groups https://gwern.net/newton https://gwern.net/newton Isaac Newton’s cosmology apparently involved regular apocalypses caused by comets overstoking the furnace of the Sun and the repopulation of the Solar System by new intelligent species. He supports this speculation with an interestingly-incorrect anthropic argument. Gwern Mon, 13 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000 2023-02-23T00:00:00Z essay history insight-porn philosophy science/physics/astronomy technology https://gwern.net/review/cultural-revolution https://gwern.net/review/cultural-revolution The Cultural Revolution was one of the greatest disasters in human history, the result of a self-reinforcing cycle of ideology failing to match reality and unsolved social problems, and the deranged reaction of zealots triggering defection and civil warfare. Gwern Sat, 27 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000 2021-05-14T00:00:00Z essay economics history politics psychology/personality/narcissism sociology/false-preference https://gwern.net/review/mcnamara https://gwern.net/review/mcnamara Account of well-intentioned but ill-fated attempt to conscript unintelligent or outright mentally-retarded men into fighting in the Vietnam War after remedial education, illustrating the difficulty of social interventions, the practical consequences of low intelligence, and the cruelty & evil of ignoring the reality of individual differences. Gwern Thu, 17 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000 2021-05-14T00:00:00Z essay history iq/low politics psychology sociology https://gwern.net/review/arpa https://gwern.net/review/arpa Review of Roland & Shiman 2002 history of a decade of ARPA/DARPA involvement in AI and supercomputing, and the ARPA philosophy of technological acceleration; it yielded mixed results, perhaps due to ultimately insurmountable bottlenecks—the time was not yet ripe for many goals. Gwern Wed, 04 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000 2021-05-06T00:00:00Z essay ai/nn economics/automation history reinforcement-learning/robot sociology/small-groups sociology/technology https://gwern.net/inclusionism https://gwern.net/inclusionism Iron Law of Bureaucracy: the downwards deletionism spiral discourages contribution and is how Wikipedia will die. Gwern Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2018-11-28T00:00:00Z essay anime sociology/technology statistics/prediction wikipedia https://gwern.net/terrorism-is-not-about-terror https://gwern.net/terrorism-is-not-about-terror Terrorists act irrationally from a rational activism perspective, and groups act in ways most consistent with terrorism being about social status and belonging Gwern Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2017-04-21T00:00:00Z essay crime/terrorism politics sociology https://gwern.net/terrorism-is-not-effective https://gwern.net/terrorism-is-not-effective More effective ways to kill = terrorists are stupid, or killing not most important thing to them Gwern Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2017-04-21T00:00:00Z essay crime/terrorism philosophy/ethics politics sociology https://gwern.net/wikipedia-resume https://gwern.net/wikipedia-resume A precis of my old work on the English Wikipedia, 2004–2017 (edit counts, articles by subject, and particularly notable articles) Gwern Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000 2016-07-13T00:00:00Z essay personal wikipedia https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-youtube https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-youtube Why Wikipedia and YouTube will never be integrated. Gwern Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2013-11-08T00:00:00Z essay law technology/google wikipedia https://gwern.net/colder-war https://gwern.net/colder-war MAD will not work in outer space; pre-emptive strikes are nigh-guaranteed. Gwern Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2013-06-22T00:00:00Z essay fiction/science-fiction politics science/physics/astronomy transhumanism https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-knol https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-knol Why Knol is worse than Wikipedia, has failed, and will continue to fail. Gwern Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2013-05-04T00:00:00Z essay economics statistics/prediction statistics/survival-analysis technology/google wikipedia https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-dark-side-editing https://gwern.net/wikipedia-and-dark-side-editing Cynical tactics encouraged by Wikipedia’s abdication of thought known as ‘No Original Research’ and ‘Reliable Sources’ Gwern Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000 2013-02-16T00:00:00Z essay anime/eva wikipedia