One aspect of this I’m curious about is the role of propaganda, and especially russian-bot-style propaganda.
Under the belief cascade model, the goal may not be to make arguments that persuade people, so much as it is to occupy the space, to create a shared reality of “Everyone who comments under this Youtube video agrees that X”. That shared reality discourages people from posting contrary opinions, and creates the appearance of unanimity.
I wonder if sociologists have ever tried to test how susceptible propaganda is to cascade dynamics.
One aspect of this I’m curious about is the role of propaganda, and especially russian-bot-style propaganda.
Under the belief cascade model, the goal may not be to make arguments that persuade people, so much as it is to occupy the space, to create a shared reality of “Everyone who comments under this Youtube video agrees that X”. That shared reality discourages people from posting contrary opinions, and creates the appearance of unanimity.
I wonder if sociologists have ever tried to test how susceptible propaganda is to cascade dynamics.