We’re looking at a study here, where social network activity is
measured, and in turn, used to predict the level of physical damage to a
location (due, for example, to a natural weather disaster)
The main conclusion of the study was obtained when the data relating to
social network activity was examined alongside data relating to both the levels
of aid granted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and insurance
claims: there is a correlation between
the mean per capita of social network activity and economic damage per capita
caused by these disasters in the areas where such activity occurs. In other
words, both real and perceived threats, along with the economic effects of
physical disasters, are directly observable through the strength and
composition of the flow of messages from Twitter.
March 2016, phys.org
Image source: link
POST SCRIPT
Other Network Address-ing on
sociothermodynamics:
For the etymological origins of
the anthropospher:
see Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere
And just in case you thought I made up this term, there is a book by
the same title, very informative and an eye-opening read for anyone interested
in what humans do:
The Metabolism of the
Anthroposphere, 2nd ed. Peter Baccini and Paul H. Brunner. MIT,
2012.
Overview from the publisher’s
website:
Over the last several thousand years of human life on Earth,
agricultural settlements became urban cores, and these regional settlements
became tightly connected through infrastructures transporting people,
materials, and information. This global network of urban systems, including
ecosystems, is the anthroposphere; the physical flows and stocks of matter and
energy within it form its metabolism. This book offers an overview of the
metabolism of the anthroposphere, with an emphasis on the design of metabolic
systems. It takes a cultural historical perspective, supported with methodology
from the natural sciences and engineering. The book will be of interest to
scholars and practitioners in the fields of regional development, environmental
protection, and material management. It will also be a resource for
undergraduate and graduate students in industrial ecology, environmental
engineering, and resource management.
The authors describe the characteristics of material stocks and flows
of human settlements in space and time; introduce the method of material flow
analysis (MFA) for metabolic studies; analyze regional metabolism and the
material systems generated by basic activities; and offer four case studies of
optimal metabolic system design: phosphorus management, urban mining, waste
management, and mobility.
This second edition of an extremely influential book has been
substantially revised and greatly expanded. Its new emphasis on design and
resource utilization reflects recent debates and scholarship on sustainable
development and climate change.
POST POST SCRIPT
And for the speculative fiction novel about the anthroposphere, see
here:
Mass Transference Device, 2012.
Description:
In this story, humanity is headed for an end point, like the Big Bang,
but in reverse, and for humans only. Humanity can avoid this moment of absolute
concentration (or do they only speed its advance) by replacing “themselves” in
the world with their self-replicates, and then by themselves going backwards
through the trajectory of progress. From that point on, humans “progress
backwards”, becoming less and less reliant on technology and approaching the
original collective consciousness we were all part of before we became
individuals (which is not much different than the anthroposphere concept of our
future, as presented in the story, only it would be happening in reverse).
This transition is especially difficult because humans, by
approximately the year 2070 will have bred out of themselves the ability to
live without their anthropospheric bubble. They need, somehow, to breed back
into their race, the ability to live like they used to (in the days of the
early 21st century).
It is the written thought of his ancestors that Hassam Flessihfo uses
to help him make this backwards transition. Together with his partner he passes
on his reformed “genes” to his son Samm Ashcroftt, who in turn becomes the
first human born with the ability to survive in complete independence of the
anthroposphere.
