# Reading Responses (Set 1)

## Response 1
### 2/3 Cooperation

Darwin discovered through his research that a trait will only persist over time if it confers an evolutionary advantage. Therefore it is logical through the ideas of natural selection that cooperation is difficult for humans as a species because it works for the greater good of the population. However, evolution has used various mechanisms to overcome these limitations therefore allowing nature to appreciate and understand cooperation.

Mark Nowak in his book [Super Cooperators](https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/01eJdpVadxUkx4ZlODONQFEhg#nowak-2011-supercooperators) explains the five mechanisms which allow us to cooperate with one another, repetition (direct reciprocity), reputation (indirect reciprocity), spatial selection, multilevel selection, and kin selection, each allowing us to cooperate with one another in different ways. In terms of relevance to online cooperation, reputation or indirect reciprocity is the most successful. It is defined as a mechanism for cooperation based on shared moral systems and individual reputations, we observe each other to determine what is “good” and “bad”. In other words, we consider it as, my behavior towards you depends on what you have done to others, “if I scratch your back, someone will scratch mine.” When individual behavior is made public and others know that you are doing good, then an “individuals regard for their reputation can be fully exploited.” The example Nowak used is related to the climate crisis. The popular hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, clearly marks their vehicles with recognizable designs. Therefore, other people see it and know that the person driving it has made an environmentally conscious choice and this could influence them to do the same because they are concerned about their reputation.

This relates to how we interact with each other online, especially in terms of social media. With constant status updates, location sharing, or simply informing about what you are doing that day, others can see your behaviors and possibly take action to replicate them for the sake of their own reputation, contributing to cooperation.

In the article [“Gossip”](https://readingthecomments.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/dtys4tyk/release/2#gossip) by Joeseph Reagle it is acknowledged that as the size of a group increases so does the complexity of that network. This, in combination with the fact that people love to talk about each other by nature, creates gossip and contributes to the indirect reciprocity culture online. Being able to share others’ posts or even just talk about them, when you may not even know the person, exponentially increases the potential for indirect reciprocity cooperation because you are exponentially increasing the number of people you come into contact with. Therefore, the online community could be contributing to a more cooperative society as people continue to compare themselves to others and chose to replicate their actions to preserve their own reputation.

## Response 2
### 2/7 Social Networks

Human social networks are dynamic complex structures, which evolve as technology evolves. The common mathematical theory “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” illustrates this well, a collection of people can do more than an individual alone. With the expansion of technology our traditional social networks, which have been around since the beginning of civilization, are being extended and amplified to create new forms of socialization. With this, sociologists have noticed a trend moving from group-centric societies, where most of the people within them are likely to know each other, to network-centric societies, where most of the people within the network do not know each other. In my opinion this, through the use of the internet, is beneficial. It allows us to connect with others, and other networks, on a larger scale providing more opportunities to connect people, organizations, and knowledge. An example of this can be seen through the idea of the Six Degrees of Separation, which claims that everyone on earth is only six degrees away from one another. When considering the use of social media, it is logical that the amount of separation between us decreases. On Instagram specifically, when you look at someone’s profile you can see who you follow, and who follows them, and you can see if you are mutuals. Thus, that person goes from a stranger to a friend of a friend, therefore changing them from an unknown degree of separation to one degree of separation. Furthermore, on the internet, there are low-degree nodes and high-degree supernodes, like google or Facebook, which are connected to each other allowing information to travel at exponential rates. Nodes are multiplied by other nodes which they can communicate with and the potential numbers of groups they can communicate with. Therefore, through “networked individualism” rather than relying on a single community for social capital indivdiuals seek out a variety of appropriate resources for different situations. This can be accomplished through the internet and social media because it drastically increases the potential connections we can make with people all over the world.

## Response 3
### 2/10 Haters

“As an online discussion grows longer the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1,” said cyber lawyer Mike Godwin in Shannon Bond’s article [“Facebook is now revealing how often users see bullying or harassing posts.”](https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1053924352/facebook-instagram-bullying-harassment-numbers) This exemplifies how quickly online discussion can go from lighthearted jokes to bullying, threats, and harassment. Bond’s article states that hate speech is commented 14 to 15 times out of every 10,000 views a post gets on Facebook. At that rate, it is logical that all of us will encounter internet trolling at some point. Facebook and other social media sites claim that identifying bullying and hate speech is difficult because they rely on artificial intelligence and automated systems to detect it. While they are consistently updating their policies and technology to protect users, it is not advanced enough to be able to detect the difference between a light-hearted joke with friends or bullying between strangers.

The chapter “Alienated: You fail it! Your skill is not enough!” from [Reading the Comments](https://readingthecomments.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/euf2ckop/release/2) by Joesph Reagle goes into a deep analysis of the nuances within online communication in terms of trolling and online bullying. At their start online debates were limited to participants who voluntarily joined, they focused on one subject, and did not lead to any threats or harassment. It was even argued that it was beneficial discussion because it educated, enforced rules, and facilitated effective communication. However, as the internet evolved so did online bullying. When considering identity vs. anonymity, forcing people to identify themselves prompted them to be more aware of ethical standards. Therefore, because the internet is for the most part anonymous it provides a deindividuated sense of self. In combination with depersonalization, a shift from a sense of self toward a group and its norms creates an environment where people feel comfortable saying whatever they want on the internet. If people could see that they upset someone, it is believed, that they would be less likely to do so. Therefore, the nature of the internet itself, being a place where anyone can post anything, allows for a culture of hate because people do not feel any consequences for what they say.

## Response 4
### 2/14 The Dark Web

As described in the article [How Tor Works](https://jordan-wright.com/blog/2015/02/28/how-tor-works-part-one/) by Jordan Wright, Tor is a server where users can be completely anonymous, it masks your location and all of your activity. It works by bouncing connections from your computer to other destinations through a series of intermediate computers called relays. There are entry, middle, and exit relays located all over the world, run completely by volunteers, which allow the browser to function. Tor was created by the Office of Naval Research and originally funded by the US government. It is still used by governments to communicate securely, but it is also now used by many other demographics. Such as activists who need a safe space to preach their message, ordinary people who simply want privacy when on the internet, and criminals who use the technology to commit crimes and go completely undetected.

Bitcoin, as explained in the article [Explain Bitcoin Like I’m Five](https://medium.com/free-code-camp/explain-bitcoin-like-im-five-73b4257ac833) by NC is a complicated form of digital currency. Sending digital currency is complex because there is no way to ensure where it has been, or who has copies of it. However, they have developed a public ledger, something that tracks transactions, to counteract these issues. The ledger is public, meaning that everyone has access to it, therefore, everyone knows the exact amount of currency that exists, knows that when they make an exchange the currency left their possession and is now someone else’s (as it will be verified and updated by the ledger), and because it is public there is no need for a third party to verify the transaction. Thus, it can behave like a physical object.

Together Tor and Bitcoin allow the Darknet to exist and create a safe space for crime to be committed. In the Rolling Stone article [The Battle for the Dark Net](https://au.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/the-battle-for-the-dark-net-949/), by David Kushner, this dynamic is evaluated. The Darknet is a space where anyone, including criminals, can remain virtually anonymous. It functions on the Tor browser and works with Bitcoin to keep all transactions untraceable. This is dangerous because, as previously mentioned, Tor can never be shut down because it was created for and by the government. Thus, the same people are trying to catch criminals on the software they developed and funded to be secure.

Furthermore, besides government use, Tor is also used by other groups like activists for good reasons, which the browser was designed for. This adds another layer of conflict because groups like that are also fighting for the browser to remain in operation for their privacy. While it was stated that criminal activity is a small fraction of use on Tor it is still prevalent. People can buy and sell anything they want on the Darknet, and in more cases than not get away with it. The government is trying to combat this through software like Memex, a search engine that works on the deep web and Darknet, to locate these illegal operations. However, it should further be noted that even this software, like any other, can be used for good or for bad. Overall, this is an extremely complex issue that I do not see a solution to because the technology of the internet is constantly updating. There are very smart people on the “good side” and the “bad side” competing to develop new technology to suit their needs. Here lies the beauty and ever-changing abilities of the internet.

## Response 5
### 2/17 Exam Review

**MCQ**
*Question 1:* Which of the following handles addressing and routing, in terms of function on the internet?

A. URL
B. IP
C. HTTP
D. HTML

*Question 2:* Fox News posted an article exposing the discovery of pink penguins in the arctic, claiming that this disproves their extinction and therefore climate change. It has been reported by multiple other news and scientific sources that this is false. Which type of mis/disinformation did Fox use?

A. Misleading content
B. Satire
C. Imposter content
D. Fabricated content

**Free Response**
*Question 3:* Use echo chambers and groupthink to explain why filter bubbles on the internet can be dangerous.

*Question 4:* What do US government officials, criminals, and activists have in common through their use of Tor? Why is this a source of conflict between these vastly different groups?
<br/>
**Answers**
Question 1: B
Question 2: D
Question 3:
- Filter bubbles are the result of the algorithm which dictates what we encounter online. We often only see things similar to that which we like or interact with.
- Echo chambers are when we assume that everyone thinks like us and forget that other perspectives exist, on the internet, this isolates us from any cognitive dissonance on our feeds, making them much more pleasurable.
- Groupthink is defined as a group of people that temporarily experience a loss of the ability to think in a rational and moral manner because they all agree on one thing, no one is there to challenge them or their beliefs.
- Therefore, together this can be dangerous because we get stuck reinforcing our own ideas and beliefs, completely ignoring other perspectives.

Question 4:
- US government officials, activists, and criminals all use Tor for privacy and to remain as anonymous as possible.
- This is an area of conflict however because they all want to be anonymous for different reasons. Government officials created Tor as a means for them to communicate classified information, activists use it as a means to escape prosecution for their beliefs, especially in countries with prominent social justice issues, and criminals use it for illegal activities.