How groups of people make decisions, form opinions, and determine social norms has traditionally been the focus of sociology, anthropology and political science. But physics too has a long tradition of studying systems of many interacting components and has developed tools for understanding how such systems can generate collective behaviours that can't be anticipated by studying their components or their interactions in isolation. In this talk for Disarmament Insight on 25 September 2007, Dr. Philip Ball, author of the best-selling book "Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another", talks about the pros and cons of such approaches, and how arms control practitioners might benefit. Slides accompany audio on this podcast.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
