Social Norms, the Lizard Brain, the Web

Francois Gossieaux posted today about the importance of reciprocity in ultrasocial societies. That sounds pretty high-falutin’, but it actually boils down to what one might call base humanity:

It’s the old fashioned “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” phenomenon - which is in fact a mindless and automatic reciprocity reflex. if someone receives a favor, that person will be driven to repay that favor - not because it the proper thing to do - but because it is a built-in ethological reflex. It’s tit-for-tat, hardwired in our brains, that opens the possibility of forming cooperative relationships with strangers.

Anyone who wants to argue the origins of “2.0” needs to have a stance on eBay. Was it the first “social media” project? Did the community policing layer open the doorway to a deeper understanding of how online interaction is best implemented? My answer is an emphatic yes, and Gossieaux’s thoughts around The Happiness Hypothesis back it up. Go forth and read, and think to yourself - how are you doing on favors owed/owing? What’s your capital with your audience?